Page 32 - Down Side News Today

Unfettered abilities to carry out missions that theyre been charged with. >> whats the down side? >> the down side is they can get carried away with it and i think frankly with the george b. bush administration i think he trusted the military too much. it sounds a bit strange for a military person to say that, but i think there were a lot of military people that let georw.h down. give him too rose of a picture when it came to iraq and afghanistan. >> theres a lot of continuity in this policy. th...

>> if north korea does, well have more anxiety and more pressure to the down side. i will see to a certain degree, the mark has shown some resiliency. the bias that we had to the upside is shifted to the down side. unless theres some catalyst to change the direction, we will be under pressure, particularly geo politics. the syrian strike, the moab and then of course this mad man. he puts the megelo in megalomanache. >> and if china is in there trying to flex their muscle with north korea, its un...

P president obama weighed whether to make good on an earlier threat. >> a red line for us is we start seeing a bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. >> reporter: at the time trump tweeted repeatedly opposing action, to our very foolish leader, he said, do not attack syria. if you do many very bad things will happen, and from that fight the u.s. gets nothing. there is no upside and tremendous down side. and he told cnn -- >> why do we care? let isis and syria fight, and let r...

Casualties, unintended civilian casualties and that could be a down side. other down sides would include some type of conflict with iranian forces in syria and russian forces in syria, so there are absolutely potential pitfalls here. >> right. its not just about syria but about some of these other countries that you just mentioned, russia and iran, who are also backing syria. david, at what point do you think president trump needs to get congress to sign off on military action in syria? >> well,...

Attack syria. if you do, many very bad things will happen and from that fight the u.s. gets nothing. there is no up side and tremendous down side. and he told cnn -- >> let isis and syria fight. let are ush srussia fight isis. >> reporter: then thursday an about-face. >> it is in the national security interests of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. >> reporter: and trumps decision to strike syria was a unilateral one after once saying dont go to...

Were chants for an ouster. we are just talk building a russian puppet. >> great to have your perspective. you interviewed him 10 years ago. you look the very same. >> yes. . thank you. at least 21 donald trump tweets he called for the u.s. to get out or stay out of syria. and at one point he said this. there was no up side and tremendous down side. and he said stay out of syria. rebuild our own country. heres what then candidate trump said a week before election day. >> hillary and our failed ...

The one weve seen this week, president obama weighed whether to make good on an earlier threat. >> a red line for us is we see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around. >> reporter: to our very foolish leader, he said, do not attack syria. if you do, very many bad things will happen and from that fight, the u.s. gets nothing. there is no up side and tremendous down side. he told out front -- >> why cant we let isis and syria fight and let russia -- theyre in syria already -- let them figh...

Consequence of the weakness and resolution. president obama said he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. that statement contrasts with a tweet from trump in september of 2013 which reads president obama, do not attack syria. there is no up side and tremendous down side. save your powder for another and more important da rex tillerson after not responding to verbal statements issued a statement condemning the attack which he said is the third alle...

Believe it is, it is a war crime and the president says it changes more than a red line. these are major, important words that the president has announced on live, global television, for the whole world to hear. so this is going to be a very, very pivotal moment because if he steps back, its going to be a double step back of what he accused president obama of doing. remember, he criticized president obama and most of the allies criticized him for failing to take up that red line back in 2013 but...

And that will allow chairman dunsford and secretary of defense mattis to help trump when it comes to the national security of the united states. >> is there a down side? >> here is my question, what is the job of jared kushner on advising the president? also, what is he advising? given that he doesnt have a lot of foreign policy or diplomatic experience. how is he synthesizing this information. i would like to see something to know where his world view is. >> we really know nothing about him. >>...