Thread: MOAB
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Old 04-16-2017, 09:13 AM   #19
detbuch
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 7,688
Quote:
Originally Posted by wdmso View Post
doesn't change a thing

It changes how we view what happened. For those who want to see it as a strictly political move, "nothing but a operational field test of a weapon and another PR stunt" as you put it, concocted purely by Trump, and not a tactical move by the military which was authorized well before Trump, it puts a different light on the strictly Trump did it narrative.

If you think that he did not ask for permission before dropping that thing your gullible.

I didn't put any thought into that. I assumed that Trump was OK with it. My assumption re Trump is that he says get the job done (whatever that job may be), and lets those who he appoints to do it do so in whatever way, in their expert opinion, it takes to get it done.

when Trump was asked during a meeting with I-85 First Responders if he had authorized the strike.

“We have given them total authorization Trump can grant the
authority but its still Trumps responsibility

So if the military thought the best way to get the job done was to use MOAB, which they were already authorized by a previous administration to do, I can see Trump saying OK--go for it. I'm just guessing, but I don't think Trump spends any time figuring out what tactics the military should use. Sounds like his mission strictly, in this regard, is to get rid of ISIS. From how he has operated his businesses in the past, he leaves the details of how best to do it to the experts he hires to do the job.

Pentagon officials say the generals have had the authority to launch whatever ordnance they had in theatre against ISIS since January last year, but President Donald Trump's comfort level with delegating new decision-making on counterterrorism strikes surely played into their thinking. General John “Mick” Nicholson ordered the weapon during the Obama Administration to use during Afghan’s fierce spring and summer “fighting season”, but it was only delivered in January this year, Salvin said.
While he may have had the authority to drop the bomb, it’s likely he notified commanders above him that he was about to use the munition, but it’s not clear how high that went. “Appropriate notifications were made,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. John Thomas emailed

That all sounds about like what I just said. And that they were given authorization by the Obama administration "to launch whatever ordnance they had in theatre against ISIS".

It's not all just about Trump making a political move. It sounds like a military decision of what and how and when.


Not sure how any justifies a 16mil dollar weapon to kill 100 and think it was done solely in the name defending America As for the general he say it was tactical not political ... but giving him the green light was political and strategic for the white house home and abroad
What do you do with a 16 million dollar weapon if you don't use it? Your the military expert, how do you destroy a cave system deep in the Afghan mountains used by ISIS to hide and plan attacks, and is being inhabited by important ISIS commanders and plotters? And would it have been political if Trump had said, naw don't use the bomb, send troops into the caves instead?

Last edited by detbuch; 04-16-2017 at 09:18 AM..
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