instigated an escalation cycle with an American enemy without such consideration" [for American lives + interests]
Bad options, considered with little serious deliberation on an unnecessarily rapid timeline, should never get to the president in the first place."
or if military officials took shortcuts in the process. Regardless, whatever truncated steps led to the choice to kill him had alarming results."
Deliberately targeting civilians or cultural sites e.g. should be off the table —
and the Pentagon ruled those options out after Trump suggested them..
+ Operations must be proportional to the security context."
for proposals that belie the laws of space + time because of..fundamental misunderstanding of military capability...
+ Options for strikes should be real options. Reportedly, whoever drafted the president’s briefing slides used the Goldilocks paradigm — presenting options
that were too mild, too extreme + one that was just right."
Such frameworks are deceptive and dangerous: The Soleimani strike was never meant to seem best."
washingtonpost.com/outlook/why-di…
the decision-makers are in on the gag"..
[But] It seems the nat'l security apparatus skipped crucial steps while deferring to @SecPompeo advocacy
of law; telling senior commanders they should not be tempted by those seeking private advice...