“The events of the past ten days suggest that there was no administration forethought to the possibility of a major chemical incident in Syria,” wrote Hof, currently a fellow at the Atlantic Style Council.
The results of this mystifying lack of preparedness have been abysmal,” he wrote, calling Obama’s decision to seek congressional approval for the strikes “constitutionally sound, but strategically appalling” and suggesting the White House find “an objectives-based strategy.
The administration has consistently separated the goals it hopes to achieve with a military strike – punish Assad, send a warning to similar states, restore U.S. credibility – from the objectives it hopes to achieve politically: to reach a negotiated peace in Syria with Assad no longer at the country’s helm. In terms of strategic planning, the separation of the two is almost a rookie error.
...It is quite extraordinary for such an important foreign policy honcho to publicly speak so candidly about his former boss, especially when that boss is still in office.
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