Interesting conversation with a friend who was helping organize a STEM night at an elementary school outside Colorado Springs. One of the speakers was a retired four-star general who spent years at the highest levels of national security and had direct access to classified intelligence.
Long story short, he was talking with a few parents after the event, and the subject turned to Iran. My buddy asked him about Trump's claims that Iran is on the verge of having a nuclear weapon and poses an immediate threat that requires military action.
According to my friend, the general basically said the public is getting played. He said there is a huge difference between Iran having nuclear ambitions and Iran being on the verge of having a usable nuclear weapon, and that the administration is deliberately blurring that distinction to sell the American public on a war.
The most interesting thing he supposedly said was that the intelligence doesn't support the picture Trump is painting, and that the claims about how close Iran is to a bomb are being used to justify a decision that is political, not an unavoidable military necessity. In other words, the threat is real, but the claim that we have to act right now is a different matter entirely.
His name is Glen VanHerck, former head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, so this isn't some random guy repeating cable news talking points.
The funny part was that, right in the middle of the conversation, one of the kids came over and asked him whether presidents were allowed to lie. Apparently the general smiled and told him that was a question for his civics teacher.
Take it for what it's worth.
By
Deephaven ·
