War planning by emoji

[marmar]

War planning by emoji
The people supposedly in charge of our national security celebrated the attacks on the Houthis with memes

By Lucian K. Truscott IV
Columnist
Published March 25, 2025 9:07AM (EDT)


(Salon) Iwill get around to writing about Jeffrey Goldberg’s bombshell article in the Atlantic about how he was inadvertently included in a top-secret Trump administration text group discussing the planning for the recent U.S. strike on the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, but first I would like to describe for you how similar communications were conducted during the Iraq war.

A TOC is a Tactical Operations Center. Every unit engaged in combat from a division through a brigade down to a battalion and a company has its own TOC where plans are made for everything from defending the unit to movement of troops to engaging the enemy in combat.

Everything that happens in a TOC is secret. When I was embedded with an infantry company in a small base camp in downtown Mosul, every night there would be a convoy sent from the company to the brigade base camp to pick up the hot meal for the day. In the TOC, soldiers would be assigned to the convoy; a route from the company base camp to the brigade dining facility would be picked, with plans made for an alternate route if something unexpected came up. The time of departure for the convoy would be chosen. All of this was necessary because even something as simple as a convoy to pick up dinner was a combat operation. Previous convoys had come under fire from Iraqi insurgents, and it was known that insurgents had laid IEDs along likely routes from the company to the brigade base camp. Soldiers had been wounded in attacks on convoys to pick up dinner in that company and others, so planning for the convoy every afternoon was a serious matter.

....(snip)....

This is why Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be fired not later this week but right this minute. He transmitted over the highly insecure Signal message network on his own cell phone the entire plans for the United States attack on Houthi terror installations in Yemen that was discovered by the apparent accidental inclusion of the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic in what was called the “Houthi Principals Small Group.” “Principals” in gov-speak means everyone in the Cabinet below the president. This group of Signal chatters included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Special Presidential Adviser Stephen Miller, CIA Director John Ratcliff, Special Middle East and Ukraine Negotiator Steve Witkoff and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles – a total of 18 high-level members of the Trump administration in all. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/25/planning-by-emoji/

[Skittles]

1. excellent assessment

recommended!