Generals May Launch New ISIS Raids Without needing Trumps OK

[sunonmars]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/01/generals-may-launch-new-isis-raids-without-trump-s-ok.html?via=desktop&source=twitter


The White House is considering delegating more authority to the Pentagon to greenlight anti-terrorist operations like the SEAL Team 6 raid in Yemen that cost the life of a Navy SEAL, multiple U.S. officials tell The Daily Beast. It's part of an effort to step up the war on the so-called Islamic State.
President Donald Trump has signaled that he wants his defense secretary, retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, to have a freer hand to launch time-sensitive missions quickly, ending what U.S. officials say could be a long approval process under President Barack Obama that critics claimed stalled some missions by hours or days.
In declared war zones, U.S. commanders have the authority to make such calls, but outside such war zones, in ungoverned or unstable places like Somalia, Libya, or Yemen, it can take permissions all the way up to the Oval Office to launch a drone strike or a special-operations team.

Trump’s subsequent defense of the Yemen raid, and discussion of accelerating other counterterrorist operations, shows his White House will be less risk averse to the possibility of U.S.—or civilian—casualties, unlike the Obama White House, which military officials say was extremely cautious to the point of frustrating some military commanders and counterterrorist operators.
Yet that added authority might give Mattis and senior military officers pause, after Trump blamed military leaders Tuesday for the loss of Navy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens during the fraught Jan. 28th raid against al Qaeda in Yemen, instead of accepting responsibility for the raid’s outcome as commander in chief.
“This was a mission that was started before I got here,” Trump said Tuesday during a Fox News interview. “They explained what they wanted to do—the generals—who are very respected, my generals are the most respected that we’ve had in many decades, I believe. And they lost Ryan.”

..............................

Be careful, Trump is setting you up for a fall and Trump is seriously derelicting duty here.

[lpbk2713]

1. But ... but ...

Didn't Trump say he was smarter than all the Generals?

[louis-t]

2. Sure, now he can just blame them when it fails.

If the generals are that stupid, maybe dumpy is smarter than them.

[LanternWaste]

3. Trump gets deniability when an operation goes south

Trump gets deniability when an operation goes south, and will take full credit when one works out efficiently.

[Volaris]

6. Yep.

What a chickenshit he is. If I were the generals, I wouldn't approve so much as training operations without his go-ahead now.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. I'd say that it's better to be a little cautious than not

Of course, Republicans would be skinning President Obama alive with every US casualty and botched raid. Waiting for Republican Congressional accountability to kick in for Trump any.....second......now......

[NightWatcher]

5. Passing the buck pre screwup

[ashling]

7. But the generals are

at fault for killing Ryan Owens !

[Alpeduez21]

8. Have to agree

Trump is just distancing himself from responsibility. Allowing for plausible deniability.

[Wounded Bear]

9. Will probably get better results...

without WH interference.

[kentuck]

10. If they fail...

He will have someone to blame, rather than having to accept any responsibility as Commander in Chief.

[elehhhhna]

11. Abdication is the word. That, and dereliction of duty.

One does not outsource CINC duties.

[Ilsa]

12. This kind of delegation needs to be very specifically defined.

All of the whos and wheres and other circumstances need to be clearly defined with accountability and post-review. I don't trust just anyone to have this level of life and death power.