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Breaking: US Navy Fires More Than 50 Tomahawk Missiles into Syria
NBC News: US military has launched more than 50 missile strikes on al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria
— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) April 7, 2017
NBC News: Only tomahawks missiles fired, no fixed wing aircraft involved
— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) April 7, 2017
Full story from the Washington Post:
The U.S. military launched approximately 50 cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield late on Thursday, in the first direct American assault on the government of President Bashar al-Assad since that country’s civil war began six years ago.
The operation, which the Trump administration authorized in retaliation for a chemical attack killing scores of civilians this week, dramatically expands U.S. military involvement in Syria and exposes the United States to heightened risk of direct confrontation with Russia and Iran, both backing Assad in his attempt to crush his opposition.
The attack may put hundreds of American troops now stationed in Syria in greater danger. They are advising local forces in advance of a major assault on the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital.
The decision to strike follows 48 hours of intense deliberations by U.S. officials, and represents a significant break with the previous administration’s reluctance to wade militarily into the Syrian civil war and shift any focus from the campaign against the Islamic State.
Senior White House officials met on the issue of Syria Wednesday evening in a session that lasted into early Thursday, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, have communicated repeatedly since Tuesday’s chemical attack, the officials said.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to make a statement tonight.
Update:
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) _ President Donald Trump says strike on Syria in the `vital national security interest' of the United States.
— Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC) April 7, 2017
Published in Foreign Policy, Military, PoliticsBREAKING: Trump calls on 'civilized nations' to join U.S. in 'seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria.'
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 7, 2017
Message sent to Assad,Putin,the chinese leader,the North Korean maniac….there is a new sheriff in town who doesnt pontificate but acts…..obama left such a mess behind that their probably is no good answer in Syria but anything that reasserts US power once again after 8 years of feckless spineless behavior gets a thumbs up from me
Are you serious? The total number of US military and support personnel killed and grievously wounded in Iraq by resistance forces organized and deployed by Syrian Baathists dwarfs the casualties at the disco.
Joe P,
That Trump is just amazing, isn’t he. Don’t worry tomorrow he’ll leave a comma out of one of his tweets and they’ll be all over him for it. What a sense of relevance the media has. Surely they are right on top it. Like blind lemmings hunting for the cliff.
Regards,
Jim
Obama drew a red line– nothing happened.
Trump says “Many lines were crossed” — Syria loses an air base.
I guess we are done with “leading from behind”
What did they do to us? They are invading us and the rest of the west with millions of refugees that are creating mayhem everywhere they go. Time to take out Assad, create a Syrian refugee solution on the ground in Syria when he”s gone and send all these lunatics back where they belong.
Trump to Putin, Kim, and China: I’ll match your veto in the Security Council and raise it with 50 Tomahawk missiles.
I gathered that.
It was a dark day for the Republic.
Indeed. Viewed in a cold political light this strike almost certainly has far more to do with North Korea, Russia, China, etc. than anything occurring in Syria right now.
This is seizing the moment to send a calculated message.
It isn’t, but that begs this question. How many wrongs is it that make a right now? One judges each instance based on its own merits and particulars.
We’re getting some bits of information finally.
CNN: Separately, in an effort to tie the US strike to the chemical attack, the US military showed reporters an image of the radar track of a Syrian airplane leaving the airfield and headed to chemical strike area on Tuesday. A second image of bomb damage craters at the airbase was also shown to reporters at the Pentagon.
If we don’t know who did it, then someone in the military needs to be relieved. Consider, this is air space that we are ‘sharing’ operationally with Russia. You suppose it might be continuously monitored – by both sides? Remember the trick in Iraq where they recorded air and road movements, and then played it backwards when something bad happened, to find out where it came from? Think they’ve forgotten how to do that, when we have people in harm’s way out there? If they have, someone has [CoC] up big time. If not, then we know.
ETA: JcTP was typing at the same time. Yeah, just like that.
They’re reporting that Russians were given a heads-up about the attack so they could scram. Still Putin’s tool, I see.
Kidding, but you know that’s some will say.
Listen to Herb Meyer in Feb. About at 44:45.
Are the Star Wars references here deliberate?
The more I hear about this, the more it sounds like it was competently done. Maybe this isn’t going to turn into a giant mess.
On the other hand, I support the strike, and I was NeverTrump.
I’m torn.
Bastards deserved it.
But . . .
I don’t like being the world’s policeman.
And . . . I thought Trump felt that way, too.
Exactly. Been saying that for 10 years.
There’s a new sheriff in town. After Obama, and his red lines, any real action is an improvement.
Seconded.
Wait and see how it plays out.
Like it or not, the world needs a policeman. Take away Pax Americana and you’re left with a notable absence of pax.
I’ll see Fred’s Star Wars references and raise with a Marvel reference: with great power comes great responsibility.
Fred Cole: What republic?
The Islamic Republic of Iran?
The Peoples Republic of China?
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics?
The Peoples Republic of Korea
or the Syrian whatever?
Thirded!
I am no Trump fan, and I would say I have even been uncharitable in the amount of breaks and leeway I will extend to him. I think that this retaliation strike was absolutely necessary for him to order and I am glad he did it. Trump is nothing if not a blowhard who we have seen is prone to off the cuff remarks that later he takes back, or modifies. Having issued a statement that a line was crossed and to not have some sort of concrete response would be a continuation of Obama era weakness. Furthermore, it is clear that Syria has failed to live up to their deal with Obama from 2013 that averted air strikes then, this is not withstanding all the other treaties Syria signed previously promising not to use such weapons. Assad and his ilk are wild animals they will respond and understand nothing but naked force. This was a very clear, yet limited declaration of our ability and commitment to holding them accountable.
Even if our goal is not to depose Assad we still need him to live and exist within a set of bounds that we dictate. Among these boundaries are a prohibition of the use of chemical weapons. Like a poorly trained dog we need to reestablish dominance and negatively reward bad behavior.
To come back to my Trump skeptical ways let me offer this bit of sobering contemplation. By all indication and reporting I have heard on the matter from both CNN and Fox Trump’s mind on the issue of Syria was changed by the pictures of the aftermath of the attack (I must then assume he never bothered to look at the after maths of the previous attacks before he tweeted back about them). Is it possible that Trump reacted emotionally and that this attack is not an indication of a serious shift, and that in a few days some other news will cause him to change his mind again? If this is the case then this strike will have been meaningless and possibly will only add to the problem, as we will have gone from being passive to being erratic.
I don’t honestly know the answer to this. I am hopping that it is not the case and that to the extent it might be true that Mattis and McMaster keep Trump focused.
America needs to reestablish credibility. In doing this we gain leverage not just on Assad, but Iran, and Russia too. If you want to play poker you have to ante up. This air strike was that, now the ball is in their court.
No, I think you are correct. This is what General Flynn was talking to them about back in November. I have the transcript, you know.
I voted for him, but with deep misgivings, mainly because I feared that his fondness for Vladimir would keep him from doing what needed doing when it was needed.
Hillary, on the other hand, was a numbskull. Moreover, whatever the FSB had retrieved from her server could her vulnerable to blackmail.
This was necessary, if only to remove all doubt that Trump has it in him to pull the trigger. If he had waved his stubby-fingered hands at this, there would have been more provocations, more challenges, more outrages. Once it starts, it doesn’t stop until someone stops it. Sorry, Libertarians; that’s the way the world really works.
And stop already with the “false flags.” You can’t run down to the garden supply store and pick up a canister of sarin. It is complicated to make, difficult to store and move, and problematic to deploy. Aum Shinrikyo made crude, impure sarin for their 1995 subway attack in Tokyo. Aum Shinrikyo had 40,000 members and about $1 billion in assets. The rebels have nothing like that.