'Tremendous own goal': Ex-CIA official says Trump created 'a counterterrorism nightmare'
February 05, 2025
Appearing on MSNBC on Wednesday morning a retired CIA official with 26 years in the agency behind him, took a hammer to Donald Trump's proposal to assume control of Gaza while forcing out the current inhabitants.
On Tuesday the president set off a firestorm by speaking off-the-cuff and stating, "The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too," before continuing, "We'll own it" to the delight of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
Speaking with "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski, Marc Polymeropoulos, who now serves as an MSNBC security analyst, told the panel, "I think every CIA station chief in the Middle East woke up with a migraine headache because there’s a potential for a generational counterterrorism nightmare here."
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"You have to look at the words that Donald Trump used yesterday, quote, 'take over Gaza, own Gaza,' these are triggering mechanisms for Islamic extremist groups," he elaborated before pointing out that similar Middle East outrage led to the Osama Bin Laden's attack on 9/11/2001.
"If I was in the CIA, still in the CIA and the counterterrorism community, I’d be monitoring the Islamic extremist forums because this is just a tremendous own goal," he warned. "I worry that even if these are just words –– perhaps part of some strange negotiating gambit–– Americans might be less safe now."
"I can’t imagine anybody in the CIA or the State Department who would have advocated this approach," he added.
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