TRUMP'S SURPRISE BORDER MISSION IS A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED WASTE OF MONEY: PENTAGON SOURCES

The Trump administration’s plan to deploy thousands of troops to the U.S. border took officials by surprise, with many senior-level Defense Department officers saying they believed the move was politically motivated and a waste of money, multiple Pentagon sources with knowledge of the directive told Newsweek.

Four sources with direct knowledge of how plans for the troop deployment—dubbed Operation Faithful Patriot—came together said that the initial directive to send troops to the border came directly from the president’s office, known in Pentagon parlance as National Command Authority, which would mean President Donald Trump or Defense Secretary James Mattis.

The sources added that even if Mattis, a former U.S. Marine general, had been delegated authority for the operation, it would still have required permission from the commander in chief. But ultimately, the decision to move forward with the southern-border deployment was unexpected by military planners. 

Speaking to Newsweek on condition of anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the media, the four U.S. military sources said senior leaders within the Pentagon had derided the deployment not only as a significant waste of taxpayer dollars but as running counter to military readiness, but that a minority lauded the Trump administration’s hardline crackdown on immigration.

Asked Wednesday if the number of U.S. troops on the border was a political stunt, Mattis said: “The support that we provide to the Department of Homeland Security is practical support based on the request from the commissioner of customs and border police. We don’t do stunts in this department.”

Pentagon officials did not reply to Newsweek requests for comment.

Many service members within the higher echelon seemed to agree that the decision to deploy thousands of troops to the border was a politically motivated tactic, with the Trump administration ordering the deployment less than a week before the November 6 midterm elections, the sources suggested.

“There is no practical or tactical reason for this to happen,” one source told Newsweek.

The remarks come amid the president's doubling down on his immigration rhetoric on Thursday as he spoke to reporters in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

“Anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to Mexico and the Mexican military, Mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of Mexico, we will consider that a firearm,” Trump said. "We’re not going to put up with that. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. I told them to consider it a rifle.”

The four Pentagon sources speaking to Newsweek moments after Trump concluded his comments said that service members deploying to the southern border had not received credible intelligence about “bad actors,” and there had not been a change to the rules of engagement that would permit service members to treat rocks as firearms.

Trump had previously called the expected arrival of the caravans an “invasion of our country.” The president had also claimed that the caravan contained terrorist cells and that Democrats were organizing and handing out money to the traveling migrants.

Critics of the president have called the troop deployment a publicity stunt meant to garner Republican support just days before the midterm elections.

Despite the president’s assertions that the caravans were “made up of some very bad thugs and gang members,” documents obtained by Newsweek showed that intelligence officials did not anticipate high involvement of criminal gangs—or any terrorist infiltration—as the caravan continued to follow its projected route.

-  Excertp from article by JAMES LAPORTA, NICOLE GOODKIND AND CHANTAL DA SILVA


My take: This is a laughable attempt by Trump to manipulate base voters with fear of foreigners however it might not be laughable to Pentagon officials and taxpayers that have to pay for this. If any other Americans beyond his base fall for this embarrassing stupidity we will be in trouble.