{"id":200788,"date":"2020-01-13T08:53:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T08:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=200788"},"modified":"2020-01-16T08:09:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T08:09:52","slug":"esper-contradicts-trump-claim-iran-planned-attacks-on-four-us-embassies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=200788","title":{"rendered":"Esper contradicts Trump claim Iran planned attacks on four US embassies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Luscombe \u2013 The Guardian Jan 12, 2020<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

From left to right: National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff US Army General Mark Milley and Brig General Marcus Evans are seen Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in the Situation Room of the White House. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Seeking to explain Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Iran was planning at<\/strong><\/span>tacks<\/a> on four American embassies before the US killed Iranian Gen Qassem Suleimani in a drone strike, defense secretary Mike Esper found himself in the dangerous position of contradicting the president.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked on CBS\u2019s Face the Nation if there had been a specific or tangible threat, Esper said: \u201cI didn\u2019t see one with regard to four embassies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s claim on Fox News on Friday<\/a><\/strong><\/span> prompted fierce criticism from members of Congress who were not briefed before the strike and who say such a threat was not mentioned in a classified briefing on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday, Esper added: \u201cWhat I\u2019m saying is I share the president\u2019s view that, probably, my expectation was that they were going to go after our embassies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had information that there was going to be an attack within a matter of days that would be broad in scale, in other words more than one country, and that it would be bigger than previous attacks, likely going to take us into open hostilities with Iran<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had every expectation to believe this would happen. That threat has been disrupted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Suleimani was killed by a drone strike at Baghdad airport on 2 January. Iran responded with missile strikes on US bases in Iraq<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. It has also admitted accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian airliner over Tehran, killing 176 people<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Esper later appeared to row back, telling CNN\u2019s State of the Union \u201cwhat the president said with regard to the four embassies is what I believe as well\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was intelligence that there was an intent to target the US embassy in Baghdad,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Esper\u2019s insistence that such \u201cexquisite intelligence\u201d was shared with the bipartisan Gang of Eight congressional leaders in a briefing was immediately dismissed by Adam Schiff, Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just plain wrong,\u201d Schiff told CBS. \u201cThere was no discussion that, \u2018These are the four embassies that are being targeted and we have exquisite intelligence that shows these or those are specific targets.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[And] I don\u2019t recall there being a specific discussion about bombing the US embassy in Baghdad. The briefing was more along the lines of what Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo admitted the other day, that, \u2018We don\u2019t know precisely where and we don\u2019t know precisely when.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not an intelligence conclusion. That\u2019s Pompeo\u2019s personal opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Schiff also had harsh words for Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hear the president out there on Fox,\u201d he said, \u201che\u2019s fudging the intelligence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump has also mentioned the threat to the Baghdad embassy as a motivation for the strike on Suleimani, but congressional criticism of his attempts to justify precipitating a crisis with Iran remains.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the classified briefing on Wednesday, Senator Mike Lee of Utah voiced rare Republican criticism of the president.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t hear anything about [the four embassies claim],\u201d Lee told CNN on Sunday, appearing to back up Schiff\u2019s assertion. \u201cAnd several of my colleagues have said the same so that was news to me. It certainly wasn\u2019t something I recall being mentioned at the classified briefing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pompeo has claimed Congress was briefed fully on the rationale for the strike on Suleimani, \u201cthe most perilous chapter so far in Trump\u2019s three years in office\u201d, according to a detailed chronology of the crisis<\/strong><\/span><\/a> published by the New York Times on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there was a mention of at least one embassy in that briefing,\u201d Lee said, \u201cbecause there had been an attack on one of our embassies [in Baghdad, by pro-Iranian militia] leading up to the strike on Suleimani.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked if he agreed with the former Republican now independent congressman Justin Amash, that Trump was guilty of an abuse of his power in ordering the strike without informing Congress, Lee said he did not \u201cdoubt there was an imminent attack but it\u2019s frustrating not to get the details of the intelligence behind it\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kentucky senator Rand Paul was more blunt than his fellow Republican on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press, claiming Pompeo had given \u201ccontradictory information\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from the secretary of state that they don\u2019t know where or when, but it was imminent,\u201d Paul said. \u201cHe thinks he can square the circle but to me it seems pretty inconsistent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert O\u2019Brien, Trump\u2019s national security adviser, parroted the \u201cexquisite intelligence\u201d talking point.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had exquisite intelligence to show they were looking at US facilities throughout the region and they wanted to inflict casualties on American soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, as well as diplomats,\u201d he told NBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat was imminent, I saw the evidence,\u201d O\u2019Brien added, declining to elaborate because he said the information was classified. Pressed on his definition of imminent, he said: \u201cSoon, quickly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On ABC\u2019s This Week, Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi accepted Iran had malignant intentions towards the US but questioned the president\u2019s handling of the crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of bad actors are doing bad things and threatening bad things to us, we know that,\u201d she said, \u201cIran being one of them and its proxies doing bad things to our interests and the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut how do we deal with that in a way that calms rather than escalates?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, continued<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to seek to capitalise on protests in Iran<\/a><\/strong><\/span> which broke out after the regime admitted shooting down the airliner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo the leaders of Iran,\u201d the president tweeted, \u201cDO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Defense Secretary Mike Esper\u2019s response calls into question Trump\u2019s claim that Soleimani had been \u201cplanning attacks\u201d on four U.S. embassies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Iran"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200800,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200788\/revisions\/200800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}