Posted on 04/10/2017 6:33:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
U.S. officials say they are reaching the consensus view that Assad was simply acting out of desperation. The embattled Syrian leader is facing a major rebel offensive in Idlib province, led by radical Islamic groups, that his depleted and exhausted army is ill-equipped to counter by conventional means. Chemical weapons were a response of cold-blooded convenience, they believe.
That Trump and his team couldn't initially decide what may have motivated the strike complicated the decision-making on how to move forward, one administration official said, but "not to the point of stopping us from doing anything.”
...Aides and friends say the lack of clarity seemed to worry Trump, who is impatient and has sometimes expressed distrust of the intelligence community, while he faced his first military test.
"No one really knew exactly why," a senior administration official said Saturday. "And Trump wanted to know why.”
Trump continued to ask questions about Syria's motive even after the strike, mentioning the lack of a clear motivation to friends and aides at Mar-a-Lago, according to people who spoke to him.
...
While many Syria experts in Washington endorse the official consensus that Assad is desperate to fend off even a weakened rebel opposition, they are still entertaining other theories.
... They include the possibility of a rogue military commander — perhaps loyal to Iran, which has sent troops and funding to prop up Assad — was trying to sabotage the possibility of a U.S.-Russia-Assad alliance that could isolate Tehran.
Another is that Assad was trying to psychologically terrorize his opposition through a so-called demonstration effect. This school of thought holds that “he’s showing the rebels, ‘I can get away with this,’” Salem said.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
If it doesn’t make sense, maybe he didn’t DO it...
I find no one credible about events in Syria at this point.
Who can forget Saddam Hussein and Bush's lies of WMD?
Thought jihadis were on run, losing everywhere. Now they’re winning?
This sounds like Fake News to me.
I thought thanks to the Russians Assad was winning
No one understands why he did it. There is no doubt he did it, or that his military did.
Uh, Saddam gassed his own people. That was not fake either.
As in all things Trump...his response is:
instantaneous....direct....devastating....and unpredictable.
Well maybe not quite so instantaneous nor devastating.....but good non the less.
A good Belgrano moment.
No doubt? Hardly.
More like no proof.
Why were so few killed if it was an intentional chemical weapons release.
Should have been many dozens of casualties if it were a deliberate attack. The number of causalities is consistent with an accidental release due to secondary detonation of CWs stored in the area.
U.S. officials, friends and aides, Trump and his team, Syria experts, senior administration official...
Uhhhh....Okay...
There is proof. Some of it was presented by the pentagon. Let me know when you have a clearance and I could point you to the rest. I don’t do loose lips or expose sources. You are welcome to browse some of my recent posts since last Friday for more but I’ve said all I can. If my background and reputation are not sufficient then your welcome to go figure it out on your own.
... There is no doubt he did it,...
Yeah right.
Not buying it for a second. The “proof” is info filtered and contorted by 0bama’a machine.
Does it really matter? the ROEs respecting Chems/Bios have been set. Get found playing with it, lose expensive infrastructure you may not be able to replace.
Assad did not do this...
Assad had everything to lose and nothing to gain by the chemical attacks.
Something fishy is happening.
False Flag by the Syrian Rebels?
Its follow the $$$$$ at this point because the Saudi money holds the ball of wax together in the Western nations with Israel dependent on the USA financially.
The Israelis want Iran taken out which is coming after Assad goes down, but then Israel will have to give up land and kick people out of their homes for the “Palestinian state”.
The POTUS has already said Iran needs to be dealt with and endorsed the ‘two state solution’ in Israel.
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