Gone, Baby, Gone!

Claiming that a dispute over the viability of the U.N. six-party Iran nuclear containment accord was the motivating factor (Rex Tillerson supported it; Trump does not), Tsar Donald I dismissed Secretary of State Tillerson. Trump “yes” man, CIA Director Mike Pompeo will replace Tillerson, while CIA deputy director, Gina Haspel, will succeed Pompeo, first woman to lead the agency. Embattled Tillerson was informed of his dismissal on the morning of March 13th and later released a statement that no particular reason was given by the White House for his ouster. Those around him confirmed that otherwise, Tillerson had no plans to leave his post.

Haspel herself has developed a degree of global notoriety, with several humanitarian groups calling for her prosecution for war crimes. “Haspel oversaw the CIA’s prison in Thailand, where detainees Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were tortured in 2002, according to a February 2017 report in the New York Times… Over just one month, Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times, and his videotaped interrogations were destroyed in 2005… Haspel, by that point working out of the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Va., was named on the order to get rid of the recordings.” AOL.com, March 13th. Ahhh. An interesting message to the world, Mr. Trump.

Was it coincidence that the day before Tillerson’s firing, a fiercely pro-Russian (from another group of Trump “yes” men) report was released by a Congressional Committee? “After a yearlong investigation marred by bitter partisan divisions, Republicans announced Monday [3/12] that the House Intelligence Committee had found no evidence of collusion between President Trump’s campaign and Russians who used social media and hacked emails in an effort to influence the 2016 election.

“A draft 150-page report will be shared on Tuesday with Democrats, who have pressed for a more aggressive investigation than Republicans would allow, and who complained Monday [3/12] that the panel’s work was incomplete.

“The Republican report concludes that the Russian government’s extensive meddling in the campaign was not intended to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton. That puts the House Republicans at direct odds with the nation’s intelligence agencies, which assessed last year that the Kremlin specifically sought to undermine Clinton and assist Trump.” Los Angeles Times, March 13th.

The report’s conclusion was so obviously flawed, that even more than a few GOP members of Congress slammed the result, even from within that same committee. “A Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee condemned his GOP colleagues for shuttering its Russia investigation, saying the panel has ‘lost all credibility.’

“‘We have gone completely off the rails, and now we’re basically a political forum for people to leak information to drive the day’s news,’ Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) said Monday night on CNN.” AOL.com, March 13th.

Was it mere coincidence that the day before, U.K Prime Minister Theresa May had stated “that the recent poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in the city of Salisbury was ‘highly likely’ tied to Russia” (Washington Post, March 13th), drawing instant support from the rest of the European Union and from Rex Tillerson on behalf of the United States? Tillerson’s words of support for May’s statement included calling Putin and the Kremlin “an irresponsible force of instability in the world.” And May’s statement was anything but subtle, followed on March 14th by the expulsion of 23 Russian embassy officials generally charged with supporting the Kremlin’s spying and dark opps as “undeclared intelligence officers.”

“May, speaking to British lawmakers, called the poisoning a ‘reckless and despicable act’ and said ‘it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack.’… The prime minister said the poison was a ‘military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia.’

“Although May’s government had been reluctant to point the finger without adequate evidence, given the myriad similarities between this case and the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, there had been rampant speculation that Moscow was responsible and that firm action needed to be taken.

“Sergei Skripal, 66, is a retired Russian military intelligence officer who was convicted and jailed for being a double agent for the British intelligence service MI6. He was released in 2010 during a prisoner swap and had been given refuge in Britain, where he reportedly kept a low profile but was not using a different identity… Russia denies any involvement in the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, 33.” LA Times. Both Skripal and Yulia are in stable but critical condition, and the police officer who came to their aid also remains hospitalized as of this writing.

But in the Trump White House, where even his own FBI appointees were disseminators of “fake news” about the Russian involvement in fostering massive pro-Trump online postings in social media, it seems that Mr. Trump is equally skeptical of the UK equivalent, Scotland Yard. Trump instantly walked back Tillerson’s support of Theresa May allegations against Russia in connection with this nerve agent attack in London. “The White House on Monday [3/12] denounced the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England with a nerve agent as ‘an outrage’ but did not echo London’s charge that Moscow was ‘highly likely’ to be behind the attack.” Yahoo.com, March 12th.

On the day of Tillerson’s removal, Trump told reporters that: “It sounds to me like it would be Russia based on all of the evidence they have. I don’t know if they’ve come to a conclusion…  As soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be.” And Trump doesn’t even speak Russian?! He just openly admires Vladimir Putin. Worldwide condemnation of the tepid White House response led to a further U.S. clarification. On March 14th UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, indicated that the assassination attempt was indeed probably a Russian effect, that the United States would stand behind the UK’s response, but rapidly turned her address into a general condemnation of Russia’s support of the use of chemical and biological weapons, including in its own dark opps and its support for Syria’s use of such weapons on its own people.

Meanwhile, Trump is trying to mount a diplomatic initiative towards direct negotiations with North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un. Without getting the slightest concession from Kim, even Trump’s willingness to talk at that level has elevated Kim’s status toward “America’s equal”… noting that Kim himself has been silent ever since. Deeply unskilled and dramatically unaware of the historical details of US efforts with North Korea, Donald Trump is moving forward with an entirely new Secretary of State, a massive wave of resignations from senior State Department experts, almost of third of all American ambassadorships still unfilled, and a 39% cutback for that diplomatic agency’s budget. Kim must be chuckling to himself.

The Trump White House is increasingly all about a gathering of “yes” men and women. Expertise and experience be damned. There is one advisor, one perspective and Trump himself vacillates between his populist bully tactics and a bizarre need to be liked… addicted to rallies (sound and fury that advances nothing but boosting a very fragile ego). We have an executive branch – with a massive revolving door – that is seriously damaged goods… moving to create a new version of America that is becoming equally damaged goods.

How so many American elected officials can in any conscience lean so severely in to a country that has been anti-American since WWII, has actively interfered with our elections, is enabling gas attacks and barrel bombs from a dictator (Syria’s Assad) against his own civilians and has become one of Iran’s greatest supporters – “yes” Donald, that same Iran you say you hate and distrust – is beyond me. I used to think that was called “collaboration with the enemy,” an important part of the definition of treason!

I’m Peter Dekom, and the need for Americans opposed to this damning direction need to work hard to make sure that the November election reverses that trend or at least slows it down until Trump leaves office.