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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
After signaling that we no longer insist that Assad go. After months of Democrat’s invented idiotic narrative that Trump is some Russian clone, that Putin was the only man in the world who knew Trump would win with just a tweak or two from him. With NK firing missiles and Trump warning that either China do something or we would, and with the Chinese visit. This was perfect. Much lower risk than doing nothing and has let the world know again that his comments, not his tweets, are to be taken seriously. I imagine the Chinese will do something about NK, that Assad won’t use chemical weapons again, and that Russia will complain but do little beyond posture. And of course the Democrats will run around in circles and scream fascist. Of all the actors in these multiple scenarios, only the Democrats aren’t to be taken seriously.
Interesting to peruse Twitter and see the comments from people who still use “deplorable” and the juvenile green frog in their handle saying things like, “the Jews have gotten to Trump” and he is now a “neo-con cuck”…
Fred is our Jar Jar Binks.
Funny, but will undoubtedly be redacted.
So … it’s official:
“Leading from behind,” as official U.S. foreign policy, is dead. “Leading” is back.
Trump has just traded momentary praise from Never Trumpers at the expense of his actual supporters. After this dies down, the Never Trumpers will go back to opposing him, meanwhile he will have lost a percentage of his needed supporters. Whatever you may think about the decision, in terms of support this was a tactical error, especially if it turns into a ground war.
“Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked off the lives of men, women and children,” Trump said Thursday, visibly moved, adding: “No child of God should ever suffer such a horror.”
I like a President who thinks this way. No, we will not always be able to stop atrocities or punish those who commit them. But we should do what we can.
Or as Yoda would say, “Funny it is, but redacted it will undoubtedly be.”
Well done President, well done. Something that should have been done a long time ago.
It came to me – what, now he’s suddenly moved by Syrian deaths?
What else has happened this week that he wants to draw (your) attention away from?
Conspiracy theory much?
He saw it on TV and was in a position to do something about it.
What do you hear from his base? Nothing has changed on the ground. Assad has to avoid chemical weapons, we’re still not out to overthrow him, nor to directly challenge the Russians. All that has changed is that folks have to take Trump seriously and must be cautious and that includes the Chinese who have been told to deal with NK or we would. That’s huge. I suspect they will or we will and it will have to be far more than a few dozen cruz missiles. The Chinese will do something.
They are not, they were invited.
I think there is a bit of a personal dimension for Trump. Last weekend, the administration said Assad could stay in power and Assad responded to the gesture by going out and killing a bunch of kids instead of saying “thank you” and keeping his head down. It helps that there is a humanitarian angle in attacking Syria, that it is Trump’s first “test” on the international stage and that it contrasts so sharply with Obama.
The response of the Breitbart hive has been both disgusting and enlightening (the same group, I think, that Karl must be witnessing from his comment above)
I can’t imagine too many of Trump’s base would be put off by this strike. Assuming the intel is correct and the gas attack came from Assad, it seems to me just about the perfect response. And the side benefit that it sends a strong message to all the other potential aggressors out there is just a bonus. Of course, there’s always risk to these things (both political and “real” risk) but doing nothing is a sign of weakness IMO. Assad agreed not to do this anymore.
Yeah, I know what you mean. We’re all gun shy after Bush’s debacle with Saddam’s non-existent WMDs. But at least this strike didn’t kill hundreds of thousands of civilians.
I wouldn’t have. But I approve.
A standing ovation for Donald Trump. From me. Strange times …
A low bar for success.
Of course that’s why. So what. If he winds up doing the right thing only because everyone’s riding his ass about doing the wrong thing, it’s still the right thing.
Not sure about this. Not likely the missiles did any significant damage that would stop Assad — and from where they were hit and the video released of their launch, it looks like they came from Iowa-class Battleships — the only ones reported are in the Persian and Hormuz Gulf. They have a max-range of about 1,000 miles — the reason the missile defense system that Russia (no pun intended) shot down was so crucial for us.
I wonder how Israel will view this, seeing that Tomahawks use inertial guidance that depends on a gyroscopic balance of either gimbals or fluid that are often difficult to maintain or inspect — leaving the weapon to wildly miss it’s target about every 1/100 times.
No, I am gun shy because the intelligence agencies are telling him Assad did it. It seems to be in recent years all the intelligence agencies have been able to do effectively is spy on american citizens and use that info for their own benefit in the form of leaks to the press to further their personal agendas.
From France: The words “volte-face” are in the headlines. It means the same thing in French as it does in English. Everyone is very surprised. Sample comment: “If it means maybe something changes in Syria, it’s good.”
Israel made a statement expressing approval of the strike. A military spokesman also said they were tipped off beforehand.
Moderator Note:
Accusation of bad faith. Stick to the merits of the argument.Funny, dead children and war crimes didn’t seem to matter when we were talking about refugees, but now that we have the opportunity to blow stuff up….Murica!!!We found tons of poison gas in artillery shells in Iraq. They were hidden in scattered armories with the secret to those locations known to only a few. As a result they were forgotten.
That does not change the fact Saddam Hussein failed to destroy those weapons – as he agreed to do after the 1991 Gulf War – and was in violation of the cease fire terms.
Please do not give me the “those are not the WMD you are looking for” I kept hearing after the Iraq War. They abrogated the cease fire by their existence.
Seawriter
Strange times indeed. President Trump did not do this unilaterally. The plan came from his generals. It was telegraphed clearly to the Russians (and world) by his Ambassador to the U.N. It was supported by leaders around the world. It has seriously hacked off a chunk of his base who think “neocons” have taken over his Administration.
I think he did this for the right reason. It certainly wasn’t ‘political’. Much of his base at places like breitbart and freerepublic are livid with him. To me, the primary point in his statement explaining the missile strike was this … No child of God should ever suffer such horror.
He made sure that the provocation wouldn’t force the Russians to escalate. But he also most certainly wanted to send a message that America is no longer “leading from behind”.
It’s a fair point but I would say in response Syria is on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and for good reason, this falls within the War Powers Resolution. By the very nature of terrorism it is a threat that can occur at any time with no warning and has in the past. Syria gets no Congressional deliberation, that regime burned the bridge a long time ago.
Anything beyond this sort of punitive strike though, another insane Libya scenario where you overthrow a government without even consulting Congress, would be going too far. But this? It falls within bounds.