If this is to be believed, then the US had advanced warning that a poison gas was imminent. Did the US express to the Russians or somehow to the Syrians that such an attack would not be acceptable? If they did, those deaths may have been prevented without the US assuming a deeper, costly involvement in this quagmire.
the article states that the intercepts were discovered after the fact as a part of deciphering traffic for that day
Please read carefuly the article. It explains clearly why the Intelligence got the info after the gas attack rather than before the attack. Sound logic to me.
That’s it. This doesn’t confirm Trump’s story. Why it makes him guilty. /s
You folks are devoid of reason.
First off — it’s very unfortunate that someone saw fit to leak how we gained intel on Syria. Loose lips sink ships. They might have assumed that we coordinated with Israel or even the Saudis.
Secondly ....
Unless there’s something in the report [I admit I didn’t read it] it’s very wrong to assume that we could have prevented this attack.
We have tons of raw data in electronic communications but NEVER enough analysts. So normally [unfortunately] we only know what key words to search only AFTER something terrible happens.
This can improve with better automation, and I bet it will a few years from now — something that ought to be suggested to the Pentagon BTW. Time for the military and intel community to get mentally flexible. Trump would be willing to cut a deal with Google [for example] to learn how to automate searches better.