By Edmond Y. Azadian
When President Donald Trump appointed Michael Flynn as his national security advisor, the following warning appeared in this column: “The president-elect would do a good service to his country to take a hard look at his choice before his final appointment. Otherwise, he would be planting a time bomb in his office.” (Mirror-Spectator, November 23, 2016)
The time bomb went off, earlier than anticipated, and Flynn was fired and now is in legal hot water. He might even drag with him the resident of the White House.
The warning was recorded in this column not out of anti-Turkish hysteria, but because the checkered past of the man was already a matter of public record, with revelations that he had attended a meeting with the representatives of the Turkish government, where Fethullah Gulen’s fate was discussed. As well, there was the fact that Flynn was on the Turkish government’s payroll without registering with the US government as a foreign agent. His boundless recklessness even led him to publish an op-ed piece in The Hill (“Our ally Turkey is in crisis and needs our support,” November 8, 2016), calling on the US government to come to the aid of Turkey, while characterizing Gulen as a terrorist.
US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigations will reveal more about his recklessness and personal agenda to the detriment of US foreign policy, such as delaying the takeover of Raqqa from ISIS. Shortly before the transition of power from President Barack Obama to Trump, the former’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, informed Flynn of the Pentagon plan to retake Raqqa, the nerve center of ISIS. Flynn opposed it, though no reason was recorded at the time, because the government of Turkey opposed the move.
Governments have invisible tentacles to carry out illicit actions, which are conducted under the cover of secrecy, until they hit a raw nerve.