take it with a grain of salt...Seymour Hirsch is an a*hole- same left wing writer who claimed GWB was running covert ops into iran in 2008 and was planning to attack before his term was up...
"We weren't intent on deviating from Obama's stated policies. But sharing our assessments via the military-to-military relationships with other countries could prove productive," a former Joint Chiefs of Staff adviser told Hersh.
"It was clear that Assad needed better tactical intelligence and operational advice. The JCS concluded that if those needs were met, the overall fight against Islamist terrorism would be enhanced. Obama didn't know, but Obama doesn't know what the JCS does in every circumstance and that's true of all presidents.''
And you know that Hirsch was wrong about GWB running covert ops in Iran in 2008 because you were in the Intelligence Community at the time with access to information about those operations and they weren’t happening?
WWWHHHHAAAAAATTTT - the US military would be working at cross purposes with the Current Regime?
Maybe Chuck Hagel knew something that it was impossible for him to share with the Current Occupant, and Ash Carter was in on the scheme.
Sometimes pragmatism wins over ideology.