and, second of all, that they re going to get really serious answers in an unclassified briefing where just last night we found out that they are going to be limited to one round of questioning. so we re a week and a half from the helsinki summit. we are a month and a half out from the north korea summit in singapore. corey, lawmakers still have a lot of questions. how unusual is it to have so much unknown about two extraordinarily significant meetings that the president of the united states has had with two leaders who are antagonistic towards the u.s.? it s extremely unusual. you know, the centcom commander, general votel, was asked about the u.s./russia cooperation in syria. he had to tell congress he didn t know what was going on. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, it s been reported, hasn t yet been debriefed on the
only 11 days ago, there was a fierce national security debate with the president having said twice, once in ohio and once in the white house, that he wants to get out of syria, that we re done with isis. and at the very same time, general votel, the regional commander only a couple of blocks away in washington, simultaneously saying that the hard work is now beginning in syria, the really hard work, that we re not at all done. that was not resolved at that april 4th national security meeting. there was a fierce debate with the pentagon, with jim mattis saying to the president, we re not done. we cannot withdraw 2,000 troops. he s saying, well, how long will it take? six months, a year? reluctantly he said he was angry. i want it to be months, not years. so that was exactly 11 days ago. then of course this chemical attack, the proof that they were trying to gather. they were obviously waiting until they had enough and had
doing so. general mccaffrey, what do you make of the initial reports of what went on tonight of you and colonel jacobs have been talking about defining the mission. do you feel that was reached tonight? look, brian, i think on balance, it was a very competent military operation commanded by general votel in tampa, florida. i thought the president s statement was well crafted and straightforward. secretary mattis and general dunford unsurprisingly were coherent and focused. it s worth underscoring that this was a very, very limited strike both in the scope and probably more importantly in the target set. we talk about storage facilities, scientific research or production facilities. there s not much research needed to make sarin gas, never mind
can do, he needs to have a policy. can t just react one piece at a time when you see something on television that makes you get outraged. that s a mood or reaction. not a policy. he needs a larger policy. including in eastern syria? a safe zone for, in eastern syria? that would be on the table. rick stengel? sorry, kevin. go ahead, sorry to interrupt. he just needs to ask. look, the united states has no leadership point on this. general votel for central command, and special envoy brent macgurk. a hardtime leader but not president s leadership. the united states wants assad to go a geneva peace process but you don t see the white house pushing for this or the president of the united states pushing for this. unless that happens, there s no incentive for iran and russia to come to the table. just the opposite. continuing to try to find an alternative plan. one that doesn t go to geneva. unless the united states under trump and maybe bolton s the guy to do it, say we re actually
very important i think to understand who they are. these are guys who are the storm. but you re never going to hear them talk about it. these are some of the most calm, understated, u.s. military commanders you are ever going to find. general votel, overseas the wars in iraq, afghanistan, and syria. that s a guy who made two parachute jumps into combat under fire. you ll never hear him talk about it. general tony thomas, overseeing delta force, s.e.a.l. team 6. never going to hear him talk about it. general milly, is skap relly, two general who have been commanding troops in combat in afghanistan. i ve been with him in afghanistan. my eyeballs were rotating. these are the two of the calmest guys you will ever find. i think the question is what do they think about what the president had to say. yeah. general hurtling, you have been