Trump vs. the Generals
By Ben Watson Read bio
September 29, 2016
As president, he says he would create a Syrian safe zone and swiftly draft a plan to defeat ISIS 'fast.' Here are the flag officers who say: not so fast.
Donald Trump famously, if implausibly, declared that he “knows more than the generals do” about ISIS, and that he would, as president, move quickly to defeat the group. How? Well, he says revealing details would only help ISIS raise its defenses. But it’s possible to compare what the GOP nominee has said, including at the first presidential debate on Monday, with what various actual military leaders believe.
At least several of these generals, should Trump be elected, may be looking for new jobs. In a Sept. 6 speech in Philadelphia, he vowed to meet with “my top generals and give them a simple instruction: They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS. We have no choice. Any nation who shares in this goal will be our friend in this mission.” The following day, NBC News’ Matt Lauer asked Trump about it, saying “You’re going to convene a panel of generals, and you’ve already said you know more about ISIS than those generals do.”
http://www.defenseone.com/politics/2016/09/trump-vs-generals/131938/?oref=d-channelriver
