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Thread: No Discussion on Sending More Troops to Middle East: Secretary of Defense, Trump

  1. #1

    Exclamation No Discussion on Sending More Troops to Middle East: Secretary of Defense, Trump

    Secretary of Defense Mark Esper became the latest Pentagon official to take aim at reports that additional troops might be sent to the Middle East, calling an anonymously sourced Wall Street Journal report “false.”
    “As the Department has stated repeatedly, we were never discussing or considering sending 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East. Reports of this are flat out wrong,” Esper said in a statement on Friday, in an apparent effort to clarify remarks to Congress made by a military official the day prior.
    “DOD will always stand ready to respond to future actions by our adversaries if and when they arise, but the Pentagon is not considering sending 14,000 troops to CENTCOM. This report is false.”


    The report cited anonymous officials and included no identifying information, such as whether they were military officials or what agency they work for.
    Department of Defense spokeswoman Alyssa Farah denied the report shortly after it was published on Wednesday, saying, “the reporting is wrong.” She said the United States was not considering deploying 14,000 additional troops.
    John Rood, the Pentagon’s No. 3 official, told a congressional committee the next day that the story was “erroneous.”


    President Donald Trump reacted to the article Thursday night, writing, “The story today that we are sending 12,000 troops to Saudi Arabia is false or, to put it more accurately, Fake News!”
    The story today that we are sending 12,000 troops to Saudi Arabia is false or, to put it more accurately, Fake News!
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2019
    “Do not believe any article or story you read or see that uses ‘anonymous sources’ having to do with trade or any other subject. Only accept information if it has an actual living name on it. The Fake News Media makes up many “sources say” stories. Do not believe them!” Trump added.

    More at: https://www.theepochtimes.com/no-dis...e_3167252.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

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  3. #2
    The report cited anonymous officials and included no identifying information, such as whether they were military officials or what agency they work for.
    "No discussions" is fake news. As the "anonymous source" Undersecretary of Defense John Rood publicly stated on the record testifying to Congress yesterday, they are discussing it. He does say they have not yet reached a decision on how many if any to send, but they are talking about it and considering it.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...ed-middle-east

    Yesterday, however, a top Pentagon official, Undersecretary of Defense John Rood, was on Capitol Hill, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee that 14,000 additional troops have already been deployed to the region this year, and more may be on the way.

    “We haven’t made a decision yet,” Mr. Rood said under questioning by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.). “Based on what we are seeing … it is possible we would need to adjust our force posture. I think that would be a prudent step, depending on what we observe, because our objective is to deter Iranian aggression.” […]

    Ms. Blackburn then asked Mr. Rood whether additional forces were being considered, or whether the Pentagon might send fewer than 14,000. “Yes,” he responded.

    “We are evaluating the threat situations,” he said. “We will need to make dynamic adjustments to our posture.”

    Also yesterday afternoon, a reporter asked the president about the possibility of increased troop deployments to the Middle East. “We’ll announce – whatever we do, we’ll announce,” Trump replied. “But certainly, there might be a threat. And if there is a threat, it will be met very strongly.”

    Of course, these possible deployments would follow the additional deployments from earlier this year. The Associated Press added in a report yesterday, “President Donald Trump has approved those increases, even though he also routinely insists that he is pulling U.S. troops out of the Middle East and withdrawing from what he calls ‘endless wars’ against extremists.”

    The New York Times had a related report along these lines in October, noting that there are more American troops in the Middle East now than when Trump took office nearly three years ago.
    Last edited by Zippyjuan; 12-06-2019 at 04:55 PM.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    "No discussions" is fake news. As the "anonymous source" Undersecretary of Defense John Rood publicly stated on the record testifying to Congress yesterday, they are discussing it. He does say they have not yet reached a decision on how many if any to send, but they are talking about it and considering it.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...ed-middle-east
    Zippy is fake news.

    Saying they MIGHT do anything doesn't mean they are discussing doing any particular thing.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Zippy is fake news.

    Saying they MIGHT do anything doesn't mean they are discussing doing any particular thing.
    "Evaluating the situation" means it is being discussed. "We haven't talked about it" would be "not discussing it". Saying they "might" do something means it is being discussed and debated. It does not mean they have decided to do anything or not- but they are discussing it- no matter how many times you try to mislead and claim otherwise.

    The denial was only about the 14,000 figure.

    “As the Department has stated repeatedly, we were never discussing or considering sending 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East. Reports of this are flat out wrong,” Esper said in a statement on Friday, in an apparent effort to clarify remarks to Congress made by a military official the day prior.

    “DOD will always stand ready to respond to future actions by our adversaries if and when they arise, but the Pentagon is not considering sending 14,000 troops to CENTCOM. This report is false.”
    Note that he does not say that no troops will be sent- only that "14,000 troops" was wrong. Asked if they might send a different number, Defense Undersecretary Rood said "yes".

    Ms. Blackburn then asked Mr. Rood whether additional forces were being considered, or whether the Pentagon might send fewer than 14,000. “Yes,” he responded.


    In May, Trump said he saw no reason to send more troops to the Middle East. He has since sent 14,000 more to the region. There are more troops in the Middle East than when Trump took office- despite promises to "bring them all home".
    Last edited by Zippyjuan; 12-06-2019 at 05:03 PM.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    "Evaluating the situation" means it is being discussed. "We haven't talked about it" would be "not discussing it". Saying they "might" do something means it is being discussed and debated. It does not mean they have decided to do anything or not- but they are discussing it- no matter how many times you try to mislead and claim otherwise.
    They constantly evaluate the situation, that doesn't mean they are discussing a plan to send any number of troops let alone a specific number.
    There is no discussion and you twisting things won't change that.

    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    The denial was only about the 14,000 figure.
    The denial was about the story that they were discussing a plan.



    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    In May, Trump said he saw no reason to send more troops to the Middle East. He has since sent 14,000 more to the region. There are more troops in the Middle East than when Trump took office- despite promises to "bring them all home".
    Yes, Trump sent some troops instead of starting a war after multiple attempts were made to get him to start one.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Note that he does not say that no troops will be sent- only that "14,000 troops" was wrong. Asked if they might send a different number, Defense Undersecretary Rood said "yes".
    Note that he doesn't say that any troops will be sent or that any plans to send them are being discussed.

    He just said they always might change things one way or another depending on events and their evaluation of them.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  8. #7
    Ya, I already knew this is how it was going to turn out.

    Whatever, nobody wants to put any money on it anyway, even if it's just a donation to Rand. That tells me all I need to know. It tells me the people saying it don't really believe what they are saying. It also tells me they don't want to donate to Rand. Again, everything I need to know.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
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    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    Ya, I already knew this is how it was going to turn out.

    Whatever, nobody wants to put any money on it anyway, even if it's just a donation to Rand. That tells me all I need to know. It tells me the people saying it don't really believe what they are saying. It also tells me they don't want to donate to Rand. Again, everything I need to know.
    All they care about is taking cheapshots at Trump, even if they have to take MSM rumors as holy writ to do it.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  11. #9
    Bump
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  12. #10



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