IranPress/America: According to a new book by Bob Woodward, U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assassinated last year but his defense secretary James Mattis ignored the request.
According to the book, Trump told Mattis that he wanted to have Assad assassinated after a chemical attack in April 2017.
Mattis told Trump he would “get right on it,” but instead developed a plan for a limited air strike that did not threaten Assad personally.
The defense secretary told associates after a separate incident that Trump acted like “a fifth- or sixth-grader,” according to the book.
Mattis actually compared Trump’s comprehension of national security and world affairs to that of a “fifth or sixth grader”.
The retired marine general, who oversaw US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013, reportedly made the comments after Trump questioned the need for any US military presence in the Korean peninsula following a meeting in January.
“Secretaries of defense don’t always get to choose the president they work for,” Mattis reportedly joked to friends in another instance.
U.S. President said in a Twitter post that quotes in the book attributed to James Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and others “were made up frauds, a con on the public.”
Meanwhile, Trump also told the Daily Caller that “It’s just another bad book”.
The book by Woodward portrays Trump as prone to profane outbursts and impulsive decision-making, painting a picture of chaos that Woodward says amounts to an “administrative coup d’etat” and a “nervous breakdown” of the executive branch.
Those are just some of the surprising details about President Donald Trump in Bob Woodward’s anticipated book Fear. Excerpts have started to leak in multiple outlets, and they show how tumultuous — and potentially dangerous — Trump’s foreign policy has been.
The book comes out next week, which means the following accounts are still incomplete and devoid of full context. Still, the excerpts show how US foreign policy under Trump’s has nearly turned into a full-blown disaster on numerous occasions.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.
Syrian army troopers, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have recently made major territorial gains in battles against ISIS and other foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorist groups, almost capturing the entire southern part of the country after securing the capital Damascus and other key areas.
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