Monday, August 17, 2020

Another what-about excuse

A Trump intel agency (led by a Trumpist, of course) recently put out a statement that China and Iran were trying to influence the 2020 election to dilute the reports that Russia is doing it again.  Now they need to dilute the Russian bounties on American troops story.
A Pentagon briefing document said a foreign government paid the Haqqani network, led by a top Taliban leader, to attack Bagram Air Base last December, CNN reported. While the government in question is classified in the memo, two sources familiar with the intelligence told the network it was in reference to Iran.

  The Hill
It's possible Russia is funding it. But maybe not. At any rate, this sounds despicable:
In March 2020, the Defense Department reportedly made the decision not to take any specific action in response to the intelligence to avoid complicating peace talks with the Taliban.
That should be a real comfort to the troops who would be sacrificed for US-Taliban relations.
National Security Council officials recommended against a strike and also said the escalating coronavirus pandemic would likely limit the Afghan government’s options for a diplomatic response, according to the network.

The briefing document stated that the Bagram attack [in which four U.S. personnel and more than 75 others were injured] likely qualified for compensation from the foreign government “based on the nature of the attack and agreed upon bounties.” Although U.S. intelligence said the Haqqani network had reason to target the base without a financial motivator, CNN noted that the document states the alleged funding "probably incentivizes future high-profile attacks on US and Coalition forces."
The US response to the attack was to kill General Qassem Soleimani. But no response to the bounty narrative behind it because we're negotiating with the terrorists.  (Mind you, I don't have a problem with negotiating with terrorists, but that's something that during Double U's time in office was a huge rallying cry for the Republican base: "We don't negotiate with terrorists!"

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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