Hold Up on China War! Mattis Aide Demands War with Russia First!

June 28, 2020 (EIRNS)—Desperate to prevent the presence of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the same upcoming summit meeting, British and U.S. national media and Democratic politicians continued on Sunday to go wild over the New York Times’ unsourced, can’t-confirm-it story of Russia paying bounties to Taliban fighters who kill American soldiers. Or possibly trying to—no American soldiers were killed by Taliban fighters during the period claimed. This was enough for one recent CIA and DOD official to call openly for war with Russia, now.

Not surprisingly the official who would take us back to the Cuban Missiles Crisis of 1962 is a Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis guy, Michael Patrick “Mick” Mulroy. Mulroy was Mattis’ Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense 2017-19 and is now an ABC News “commentator” since Trump fired Mattis for refusing to take any U.S. troops out of Syria. Said Mulroy to ABC: “Russia is an enemy of the United States. We identify them as such in our national security strategy, but treat them as if they are allies. Why else would we be pushing to include a country in the G7 that invaded another country and is now killing our soldiers? ... “We do not want a war with Russia and we do not want to start killing each other’s soldiers, but there are some actions you can’t accept. If we have solid evidence that this is being done and our forces are being killed, the gloves should be hitting the floor.”

The fact that Mulroy did not call on India to “let gloves hit the floor” and go to all-out, potentially nuclear war with China, was probably due to lack of time in his ABC News segment. Readers may judge: Is it a bad thing, or a good thing that President Donald Trump fired “Mad Dog” Mattis and—along with the French President and German Chancellor—wants Putin to participate in a G7 summit this fall?

The White House categorically denied the Times claim that Trump was briefed by the intelligence agencies back in March.

“While the White House does not routinely comment on alleged intelligence or internal deliberations, the CIA Director, National Security Advisor, and the Chief of Staff can all confirm that neither the President nor the Vice President were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence. This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter,”

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement issued last night, reported The Hill.

Richard Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany and briefly the Director of National Intelligence, found himself in a Twitter war with California Democrat Ted Lieu over the Times story. Lieu tweeted at Grenell daring him to confirm whether he did not tell Trump and Pence about a Russian military intelligence unit offering financial rewards to Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops.

“I never heard this,” Grenell shot back. “And it’s disgusting how you continue to politicize intelligence. You clearly don’t understand how raw intel gets verified. Leaks of partial information to reporters from anonymous sources is dangerous because people like you manipulate it for political gain.”

Or to start a world war. Caitlin Johnstone, a reliable exposer of “Russiagate” lies for years, called the Anglo-American media story “propaganda at its most vile. It is unprincipled stenography for opaque and unaccountable intelligence agencies, and it is disgusting.” The Times and London Guardian have found the weapon of mass destruction, and they are it.