The Double Down

Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, said on a recent Judge Napolitano Youtube talk show, it would have been fine if these people just admitted that a mistake had been made, then moved on. But they didn’t. They haven’t.

Kwiatkowski was speaking about the text heard round the world regarding the recent U.S. airstrike on Yemen in mid March. 

The planning of the bombing was conducted on the Signal app text (a free open source nonprofit messaging app prioritizes encryption) with the cabinet members on the chat list. Also included on the list was Atlantic magazine’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, who disclosed the text to the world in an article, but after the bombing 

The play-by-play texting leading up to the air strike was spearheaded by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth advocating the bombing of the terrorist group Houthi.  

Al Jazeera News reported 32 persons were killed in the mid March attack in Yemen, including children. 

According to Kwiatkowski, the bombing of Yemen is not a new strategy, it happened under Biden against terrorist groups who wanted  to close channels in the Red Sea.

It wasn’t so much a policy matter, to bomb or not, Kiawaitski said, but that the decision was disclosed for the world to see on a text message. If anything, it was a breach of national security. 

Some observers claim the bombing was done on Yemen, which is a gatekeeper country to the Red Sea, to keep shipping lanes open for and to appease Israel. 

Although the text wasn’t disclosed in the media by Goldberg until after the bombing, he commented it was good the Houthis weren’t included in the text, given that the text was shared by many to see before the attack. 

Some cabinet members in the chat were grilled in front of Congress about the appropriateness of the text message. But each person doubled down in their own special manner, deflecting and disavowing that the message was anything but normal. 

 While doubling down is defined as intensifying one’s belief even when there is contrary evidence to do so, the obvious concern with the text message was: Should a journalist have access to what appeared to be classified information.   

“I don’t recall,” Mike Waltz said to Congressional inquiries about the sequencing of the breach. Although he took full responsibility for setting up the text chat group where the bombing mission was planned, he was mystified how Goldberg’s name got on the chat list to begin with.    

Waltz is the National Security Advisor to President Trump. He is a former special forces officer who was awarded the bronze metal on four occasions for heroism.

When President Trump was asked about the Atlantic Monthly story, he commented he hadn't read it.

Vice President Vance responded in the Signal chat before the March bombing that it was not in the U.S. interest to go through with the strikes, other than to send a message. He appeared to be the only cabinet member who wasn’t gung-ho about the bombing.

Secretary Hegseth, when asked on an airfield tarmac about the text, didn’t deny the message existed, but claimed Goldberg was nothing more than a discredited journalist. And that the bombing actions saved American soldier’s lives. He said, “Nobody was texting war plans.” 

Refusing to acknowledge an impropriety is commonplace for the strong egos which make up any presidential administration. 

The double down seems to be a go-to response for politicians when something goes awry. A Washington Post story headline in 2017, reads, Politicians reject evidence which conflicts with their beliefs, doubling down if given more evidence.   

There are psychological motivations for doubling down, but at the base is feeling unsafe in a role one plays, and being fearful of vulnerability.

Doubling down is fodder for a hungry press. If it bleeds it leads, the saying goes. By disavowing the inappropriateness of how the message was sent and who was included in the text, the players have made this matter monumental. 

Instead of denying that a mistake was made, a wise, political sage would simply say, We shouldn’t have done that. From now on we’ll conduct all matters of war tactics in-house and not use texting.

Lessons to be learned. The cavalierness of sending such a communication via a text, shows the little regard our state players have for the life of women and children who are bomb victims in a world far away.

Perhaps, though the most pressing question is: who are we fighting for anyway in that part of the world?