Posted on 02/16/2020 6:32:15 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON - When intelligence officials briefed President Donald Trump on the most worrisome terrorist threats during the first two years of his tenure, they regularly mentioned the names of the senior terror figures the CIA was working hardest to find and kill, including the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Trump would ultimately greenlight successful strikes on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Yemeni al Qaeda chief Qasim al-Rimi - perhaps the most significant names on the CIA list of potential U.S. targets.
But he was more interested in a young and less influential figure much farther down the list, according to two people familiar with the briefings, because he recognized the name.
"He would say, 'I've never heard of any of these people. What about Hamza bin Laden?'" one former official said.
"That was the only name he knew," a Pentagon official added.
Trump - who doesn't read or digest detailed intelligence assessments, according to current and former officials - says he operates on instinct. "I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me," he said in answer to a question about the economy during a November 2018 interview.
But former CIA official Douglas London, who led an agency unit targeting senior terrorists in 2018, says that what he called Trump's "obsession" with bin Laden's son "is one example of the president's preference for a 'celebrity' targeted killing versus prioritizing options that could prove better for U.S. security."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Trump - who doesn’t read or digest detailed intelligence assessments...
I wish I didn’t read or digest this POS article.
Now I have indigestion.
Let em talk.
I’d rather read them bashing President Trump than praising President Hillary.
And?
It’s like using Roundup to kill the whole weed.
Note to the America-Hating Leftist Media: Killing terrorists is a GOOD thing. Class dismissed.
The people who elected him trust his gut over our failed trillion dollar CIA.
Obama was notorious for never reading or being willing to listen to a single PDB.
Trump is an idiot! Time for the 25th Amendment.
This. Exactly this.
The Fake News no longer gets to control the military. It hasn’t sunk in yet.
The other men on the target list are still on the target list. Unlikely that they could purchase insurance these days.
Is there some cap on the number of terrorists that can be killed per anum? I suppose we give the CIA billions $ to go after a single one at a time.
His job, his decision
Why did obama and brennan prioritize and drone in Yemen ( pardon me are we at war there) the 16 yr old American son of Anwar Awlaki, plus collaterals....?
I wonder if the rats 🐀 consider that to be an impeachable offense?
I want my refund check.
From a lot of areas of our government.
I won’t hold my breath.
He gets a verbal update. The written one is probably boring as heck.
And he’s doing fine without it.
And of course, NYT crack “reporters” have much more ability to pick high priority targets than do those silly little military folks.
Journalism - when you absolutely positively cannot do anything useful. (Was not always that way, but ‘tis that way now.)
I agree, this is just another article stating the deep state has more authority then the president of the United States and their assessments means more then the President’s
Notice how the source is anonymous, another chicken shiat article.
We are going to see more and more stories like this the closer we get to the election...
Once again NBC displays its stupidity, arrogance, liberal bias, and seditious anti-Americanism.
President Trump is the Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces. When he chooses, he determines the priority of targets. Any other priority lists are only recommendations.
That's how this constitutional republic is structured!
They consider yawning too loud an impeachable offense when it comes to Trump.
They did what has never been done before in our history.
They made impeachment mean nothing.
of course when higher priority targets are killed, such as Qasem Soleimani, the media goes into seizures against the President....anyone see a pattern here??
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