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carmencita ago

He was set up. It stinks to high heaven.Edit: The shakeup now leaves Trump without one of his closest and longest-serving advisers. Flynn had counseled Trump on foreign policy and national security matters since early in the 2016 presidential race. He was extremely valuable to Trump and he had made remarks hinting at Pizzagate. Hmmmm.

AreWeSure ago

Also he was discussing sanctions with in 2016 as a private citizen and when asked about it he lied and had the Vice President repeat his lies. He lied even though he knew the person he was on the phone with was a person who's communications were under surveillance by the US government. So he was incompetent as well as dishonest.

The recent failures of the immigration ban and the Yemen raid, show that he was also terrible at his job which as National Security Advisor is supposed to coordinate interagency discussions on big decisions and present the best possible advice to the President. The person is supposed to be an honest broker. Neither the Yemen raid or the immigration ban went through the normal channels and Trump wound up with egg on his face twice. In addition to being dishonest, he made the President look bad.

2impendingdoom ago

I don't know how you can blame the yemen raid on Flynn. The raid would have been based on current intel, so if that was botched, that would be current nsa/cia and not Flynn. Flynn hasn't been at an intel agency for a while. And the immigration ban should have been handled by lawyers.

AreWeSure ago

I blame Flynn because he deliberately left the intel agencies out of the process. He did not coordinate a full NSC meeting on the raid. The decision was made over a dinner Trump had with the Secretary of Defense, the Head of the Joint Chiefs, Bannon, Kushner, and Flynn. The intel agencies weren't represented at all. This is a disaster waiting to happen and it happened. We didn't even get the target. He was mocking the President online a few days afterwards.

After the decision was already made, they held a Deputies meeting on the raid, not even a Principals meeting. The reports were that the military got Trump to agree to the raid, by saying

A. There was a fully fleshed out plan left over from the Obama administration and

B. Obama never would have agreed to the raid which is like catnip to Trump.

There was never a fleshed on plan on this raid. The decision was to leave that decision to the new administration. Trump got rolled by his generals. https://twitter.com/ColinKahl/status/827277126860562433

Yeah, the immigration ban should have been handled by lawyers and Treasury and Commerce, etc. Also the FAA, Customs, etc. There should have been a full inter-agency review and a thought-out discussion. There's a reason this process is in place. Customs didn't even have correct talking points the day it went through. One of our chief people who was supposed to give his advice, was still reviewing the language of the decision, when he heard the TV announce it was approved. It's a mess. The Attorney General was obviously not onboard, perhaps because she could see how quickly this would be overturned by the courts.

By doing this Flynn and perhaps others are keeping important opinions from the President. The National Security Advisor is not supposed to make policy.

2impendingdoom ago

who is secretary of defense? so you are saying that it was a set up by military, leftover Obama plan? How is this Flynn's fault. Your comment defies logic.

AreWeSure ago

Flynn's job is to coordinate among all agencies on the national security council and get their input in order to.present the president with the best well thought out plans/views of our government. Cutting the Intel agencies out of this decision process can make a bad, high-risk plan seem less risky. He absolutely failed at this job. Ii was presented as a plan where all the details were already worked out, but that was not the case. The Obama Administration had been discussing a process of escalating in Yemen. Not this plan. The President DID NOT get the best advice and that is Flynn's failure.

2impendingdoom ago

But the intel agencies were deliberately not sharing. This was a set up. Clear and simple.

http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.771278

AreWeSure ago

That is false. They would have to show up at the NSC meeting with the very latest intel on Al Qaeda in Yemen including signals captures.

2impendingdoom ago

which would mean that the Yemen raid was bad intel and still not Flynns' fault. you can't have it both ways.

AreWeSure ago

Flynn's job was to surface issues like this. He didn't. It's unclear if the target of the raid was even there at the time.

2impendingdoom ago

so where would Flynn get his intel? From the agencies withholding it? Why would these agencies recommend a plan that was halfcocked and unverified? Sounds like they wren't sure!!. You're saying that Flynn was supposed to go in person to Yemen and id the target? Why would agencies withhold intel from the properly elected president and his advisers? What is their purpose if they are not there to provide intelligence and facts? How are they allowed to subvert the chain of authority? How many times did clapper lie to congress? You're trying to convince me that they have greater credibility? From where I sit, it looks like "they" have a whole fucking lot to hide and a personal interest in ousting both Flynn and a properly elected president.