National security experts are floored seeing the warmongering coming from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said Monday that he was prepared to go to war with Turkey.

“We prefer peace to war,” Pompeo told CNBC. “But in the event that kinetic action or military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared to undertake that action.”

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He didn’t want to give specifics, however, saying he wanted to let the president announce things himself.

It prompted those in the national security space to question why Pompeo would be so eager to go to war with a NATO ally, despite the troubles in Syria.

You can read their thoughts below:

First of all. Trump has shown he is all bark no bite & is not prepared to take military action against anyone. Second of all. This is INSANE. They are a NATO ally. Trump gave them a green light to pursue this operation. What is Pompeo talking about? https://t.co/XbDa6U5kad — Ilan Goldenberg (@ilangoldenberg) October 21, 2019

Questions —> Would the administration remove the ~50 U.S. B61 nuclear gravity bombs stored at Incirlik before such action? During such action? After such action? Or not at all? https://t.co/eLcgdEcXZw — Kingston Reif (@KingstonAReif) October 21, 2019

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Uhm, what? Despite being problematic, #Turkey is still technically a NATO ally to the US. So what you have now is a NATO member threatening war against another NATO member while NATO is an organization of military alliance where war against one means war against all. #wtf https://t.co/lxtmq4L8o2 — Nick Barnets (@NickBarnets) October 21, 2019

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After Trump withdrew troops so that they wouldn't get in Turkey's way, Pompeo says POTUS is prepared for military action vs. Turkey.

+ @EsperDoD ""We didn’t sign up to fight Turkey, a longstanding NATO ally"

= saber rattling no one will take seriously.https://t.co/1PmyJ9l0bK — Sam Vinograd (@sam_vinograd) October 21, 2019