It’s Army v. Navy.

Following state Senator Mike Doherty’s (R-23) criticism of last night’s President Donald J. Trump-ordered missile strike on Syria, GOP gubernatorial candidate Nutley Commissioner Steve Rogers stood with Trump in opposition to Doherty.

“I am dismayed that Senator Doherty would characterize President Trump the way he did,” Rogers, a retired Naval Intelligence officer, told InsiderNJ. “I like the senator, but he knows little to nothing about military intelligence and the geo-political balance that must be considered in that region.

“I fully support, as most world leaders do, the president’s actions,” Rogers added. “The senator asked how this action will benefit the American people. He will find his answer by doing some homework and understand what Assad’s real target is. These gas attacks in my view are a prelude to something bigger. Assad must be stopped now. We must support the President and our military in times like this.”

A retired Army officer who held a top secret clearance to perform nuclear weapons operations, Doherty stood by his position, namely that Trump reversed his position on military engagement when he ordered the air strikes on Syria in stated retaliation for chemical atttacks by the government on its own people.

“There is a process for engaging the military,” Doherty said. “President Trump’s flagship issue when he ran last year was his commitment not to do stupid things in the Middle East. Donald Trump won the primary when he destroyed Jeb Bush on the Middle East. That’s what got Donald Trump across the finish line. I’m sick and tired of stupid wars. Assad has not threatened the U.S. Assad was trying to take out ISIS and other terrorists actors, which is a good thing. Trump is the person who has changed policy, that’s why Schumer, McCain, and Lindsay Graham all support this action.

“So I have done my homework,” added Doherty, noting the irony of yesterday’s April 6th date as the one-hundred year anniversary of America’s Declaration of War on Germany – a declaration based on a lie, Doherty said.

“The people of the U.S. have one time after another been lied into foreign wars starting with the sinking of the Lusitania,  the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and, of course, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It’s been a century of lies. It could perhaps be a limited action, but the compelling evidence has not been laid out. It’s a rush to judgement.  The military’s supposed to be national defense not national offense.”