.MaddowBlog: The official Trump line on Soleimani strike starts to unravel.
The official line from the White House is that Donald Trump approved last week’s mission to kill Qassim Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, in order to prevent an “imminent” attack. According to the administration, the president’s decision was bolstered by U.S. intelligence.
They didn’t think he would take it. In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable…. By late Thursday, the president had gone for the extreme option. Top Pentagon officials were stunned.
A separate New York Times report cited a Defense Department official who said there was “nothing new in the threat presented by the Iranian general.” Trump thought the dangerous new posture would help his weak image. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the president was motivated to act, at least in part, “by what he felt was negative coverage after his 2019 decision to call off the airstrike after Iran downed the U.S. surveillance drone, officials said. Trump was also frustrated that the details of his internal deliberations had leaked out and felt he looked weak, the officials said.
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