Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Fox News general who 'spooked' Trump out of attacking Iran
President Donald Trump may have tired of the men he once called my generals, but one retired military leader still has his ear on key foreign policy matters.
BY ELIANA JOHNSON
As President Donald Trump wrestled on the evening of June 20 with how to respond to Irans downing of a U.S. drone, Jack Keane was making his second appearance of the day on the Fox News Channel.
Keane, a retired four-star Army general, said that Trump, who had speculated earlier in the day that the Iranian action might have been a fluke rather than a deliberate provocation, had a point. Mistakes happen.
Our viewers may have forgotten, but during the tanker war in the late 80s when Reagan did take some action, we actually made a mistake, Keane said, referring to President Ronald Reagan. We had a USS warship shoot down an Iranian airliner in Iranian airspace. Two-hundred ninety people killed. Sixty-six of them were children. And we took that for a Tomahawk F-14. That was clearly a mistake by the ship's crew in doing that. And we acknowledged that we made a horrific mistake.
Keanes reference to the United States accidental downing of an Iranian commercial airliner in 1988 made a profound impact on the president, who was spooked when he learned of the incident, according to two sources briefed on his reaction. The president made repeated comments about the tragedy on the evening of the 20th, leading aides to believe that Keanes brief history lesson exacerbated Trumps pre-existing doubts about carrying out the strike.
Though it is unclear just how decisive Keanes description of the decades-old incident was in the presidents decision to call off the airstrikes Trump also had repeated conversations with Fox News host Tucker Carlson before he made the call it wouldnt be the first time the 76-year-old former Army vice chief of staff has, wittingly or not, served as a shadow foreign policy adviser to the commander in chief.
more
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/02/keane-fox-news-iran-trump-1394148
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 814 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (2)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Fox News general who 'spooked' Trump out of attacking Iran (Original Post)
DonViejo
Jul 2019
OP
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,580 posts)1. "And we took that for a Tomahawk F-14."
He meant "Tomcat." I had to look it up too. I used to them on a regular basis, when I was at Pax River, but that was a long time ago.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)2. I still don't believe the deaths of brown people, some of which are Muslim, moved him
to not act. I think it was either Putin or something we don't know about yet.