Trump: ‘My Generals’ Authorized US Missions In Niger

'I Gave Them Authority to Do What's Right'

Jason Ditz 

Posted onOctober 25, 2017CategoriesNewsTagsNiger, Trump

In comments Wednesday regarding the recent revealed US military operation inside Niger, President Trump confirmed that he never personally authorized any of the mission, but rather that “my generals and my military” did that all on their own.

Trump insisted his generals “are great generals” and “I gave them authority to do what’s right” and he is confident that eventually “we’re going to win.” Trump added that he’s been finding out about the mission just like everyone else has.

Which seems like a huge problem, despite no one treating it like one. President Trump was apparently “informed” of Niger after the October 4 ambush when they realized one of the soldiers was missing, and Senate Armed Services Committee members earlier this week said they were “stunned” to learn how many US troops are operating in Niger.

President Trump have been feverishly delegating decision-making powers over the military to the military, and at this point it appears that has matured to the point where the US military could be engaged in a whole, substantial military operation with 1,000 troops in Niger, with neither the president nor the Congress any the wiser about it. If the ambush hadn’t produced casualties, it’s unlikely anyone would know about it now.

President Trump is defending this on the grounds that it will lead to a “win” over his increasingly ill-defined “enemies,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) falsely claimed it was the military’s job to decide what to do, and Congress’ job to defund it if they objected, which is both legally untrue and wildly problematic since Congress wasn’t informed for god-only-knows how long.

http://news.antiwar.com/2017/10/25/trump-my-generals-authorized-us-missions-in-niger/