Posted on 04/08/2017 12:16:30 PM PDT by ckinv368
On Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime launched a chemical weapon attack against his own people—many of whom were sleeping. Over 70 men, women, and many small children were killed by the nerve agent Sarin, which generally causes agonizing asphyxiation and death. According to CNN, Assad denied he had used the nerve agent on his own people, insisting, instead, that a routine bombing mission hit a rebel-operated nerve gas “factory.” Assad employed a similar excuse after a 2013 Sarin gas attack, arguing anyone could make Sarin, which he called the “kitchen gas.” Needless to say, chemical weapons experts find this explanation highly improbable. The fact that Sarin—especially the binary agent type used in the attack—is extremely difficult to manufacture outside of a controlled lab environment, is not lost on these individuals.
While the world universally condemned Assad for this attack, it was clear that Russia would not quickly or easily allow a UN action aimed at curbing Assad’s power. And, because Assad’s attack involved the use of a deadly Weapon of Mass Destruction that even the Nazis refused to utilize, Tuesday’s actions represented something much more sinister than even the indiscriminate slaughter of small children. Because Assad continues to possess WMDs, and has now used them twice, a response was warranted from the United States. President Trump acted decisively on Thursday night, sending 59 cruise missiles to completely destroy a large military installation and airfield that had been used by Assad to launch his nerve gas attack. While some cheered this act, others—especially those on the far Right—decried it as unnecessary, illegal, and further evidence that the US meddles in business where it should not be involved. I disagree with this line of reasoning, and think Trump got it exactly right with his response.
I certainly understand that Assad, like other madmen and dictators around the world, has been murdering his citizens for years. Approximately 500,000 civilians have been killed in Syria’s multi-year civil war, and we have largely left Syria and its people to figure out the conflict on their own. I do not applaud the doctrine suggesting the US should be the world’s policeman, nor do I believe it is the place of the US to punish the perpetrator of every atrocity. The world is a big place, and US resources cannot create universal peace and harmony. But, much more than a heinous war crime, Assad’s actions represent a dangerous precedent that is directly threatening to US interests at home and abroad. His use of WMDs in time of conflict represents a rare use of a weapon that is banned by over 175 nations, and has only been utilized in war four other times since WWI (once by him in 2013). If Assad was allowed to act with impunity—which is essentially what happened following his 2013 use of Sarin—every dictator the world over would rightly understand that the US turns a blind eye to the development and use of WMDs of all kinds and fashions. Even in the back yard of US allies. How can the US assert the moral right to call for the denuclearization of North Korea when we care little about the use of a different WMD in Syria? What do we do when a WMD isn’t merely used in our allies’ back yard, but is instead used in our own?
That’s why Trump’s actions were so important. Far from committing us as a participant in Syria’s civil war, or putting us on a collision course with Russia, Thursday’s precision strike sent a robust message. It was the strongest indication in years that the US does care about the development, possession, and use of WMDs. It demonstrated that the US has the ability to assert its power to protect allies and force change at any time, in any location around the world. It showed that when the US makes a demand, unfriendly regimes should take note and comply. It re-drew the red line that use of a WMD so strongly represents. And, finally, it reinforced in the mind of Assad and every other rouge dictator the world over that those 59 cruise missiles could just as easily have been sent to visit the Presidential Palace in Damascus, or in some other capital city.
The US is not the world’s policeman. But, the US is the leader of the free world. In that role, the US demands certain minimum standards of international comportment. The use of WMDs has been universally decried, and represents a direct threat to our interests in the Middle East and worldwide. Trump was right to assert those interests, and burnish our reputation as the shining city on the hill we’ve been for so long.
For more like this, please visit www.cameronkinvig.com
I wonder what the shipmates of those murdered on the Cole think of your Yemen support.
In the first few days after the tomahawk strikes, that was exactly the response of many right wing radio hosts. As of today, they have apparently gotten the talking points and now are all on board with the official story.
To be fair, the people Assad is accused of gassing earlier this week were al-Qaeda pretending to be freedom fighting rebels.
(Actually, they're not pretending to be anything other than al-Qaeda. We've decided to christen them "freedom fighting rebels" because it makes it easier to send them money and military support.)
Their "men" choose to hid behind them. War is hell.
There's plenty of photos out there of dead Christian kids that the fathers of these dead women and children have butchered. The New York Times doesn't print them.
A bomb hitting sarin will destroy it rather than disperse it. This is the seventh gas attack in Syria to hit Assad’s enemies since 2013. And not the first time that Assad has claimed that it is the result of his planes hitting a rebel gas cache.
Westerners are certainly naive about the use of terror weapons in war. Muslims aren’t.
But we can all agree that Russia benefits from Assad NOT using chem weapons. They have plans for Syria and don’t want other countries butting in and upsetting those plans.
Trump did them back-handed favor. Heck, Russia is likely to get a big cash weapon buy from Syria as a result of the strike.
Thanks for the info.
They’ll go down one day and I hope it’s painful.
“Thursday’s precision strike sent a robust message.”
Sure did. And everyone got it. America is at the top of the global pyramid. Still true.
Trump Got it Right on Syria
If you’re a globalist.
.
The gas attack killed 70. The war killed half a million. If we are going to get worked up about the one, you'd think we'd get a little worked up about the other.
The war was launched by the Turks, Saudis, Qataris, and Obama's State Department. It has killed half a million people. Its purpose was to bring down Assad. To do that, they recruited jihadis from around the middle east and from muslim populations in the west. The result is that, aside from destroying Syria, they have committed genocide against non-muslim populations that have been there for 2 thousand years.
The rebels are Al Qaeda and ISIS.
There are probably good reasons to bring down Assad, but not when your replacement is Al Qaeda, ISIS, or Muslim Brotherhood. So, in other words, we have killed half a million people and had we won we'd have only made things worse. Is it better to have Assad pointing missiles at Israel, or Al Qaeda pointing missiles at Israel? Is the difference worth 500,000 Syrian lives and 3 million refugees unleashed on Europe?
20 posted on 4/8/2017, 7:18:07 PM by marron
And the scum hides behind women and children. How do you defeat an enemy who sees a child as nothing but a bullet proof vest.
I put abortionists in the same category.
..or a neocon.
I’m sticking with trusting President Trump. He’s working on a path to his goals which are his campaign promises. I’ve never successfully second guessed him.
I have doubt you either.
LOL! Exactly!
Surely you do not think that innocent children in Yemen should be held responsible for a terror attack that happened years before they were born? That is sinking to the moral level of terrorists.
Your statement becomes even more inappropriate when we realize that the Shiite children in Yemen suffering today would also be the object of the hate of the Sunni terrorists who attacked the Cole.
Yemen has been a Terrorist enclave for decades!
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