Is the attack on Syria an impulsive military action?
By Roger Caldwell
Special to the Outlook
“Congress must live up to its Constitutional responsibility to debate an Authorization of the Use of Military Force against a sovereign nation, The American people are owed a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives to keep our brave men and women in uniform safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians in Syria,” Rep. Pelosi wrote in a letter Friday morning.
In 48 hours in the Trump administration there was a radical change, in America’s role in enforcing justice in the world, and the only question I ask is why?
America under President Obama has been dropping bombs in Syria for two years, to fight ISIS, and some say we are winning. We understood our mission and strategy was to defeat ISIS, and America knew what side we were fighting on.
But, now with the missile attack, we have no idea who is the enemy. It is possible there are now four enemies in that country, starting with Syria, Russia. Iran and ISIS. We may have collateral military damage, which could have been handled with diplomacy and the United Nations.
On Thursday, Trump proved that he can pull the trigger, and it was a radical departure from what his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was saying last week. Basically, Tillerson said, “the long term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.” It is unclear what transpired in the next 48 hours, but Trump authorized the attack of a Syrian military airfield with 59 cruise missiles
Trump has stepped into some quicksand by throwing the first punch, and everyone is waiting to see what kind of response this bully American aggression will receive. All Americans are hoping that all the countries involved will play nice, and just condemn American aggression, and accept the action violated international law.
Many political pundits and experts around the country support Trump’s strike on Syria, and correspondent Brian Williams called it “Beautiful.” “I am tempted to quote the great Lenard Cohen; I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.”
It now appears that many of Trump’s ardent opponents have become some of his new supporters, and this action will probably increase his poll numbers positively.
Around the world, there was tremendous support for the missile attack on Syria. Some of the countries that supported Trump were Britain, Germany, France, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Italy, Poland, Japan, and Canada. So Trump is feeling pretty good about his achievements and making America powerful and White again appears to be working.
The missile attack was a threat in Trump’s administration to show the world that there is a new sheriff on the world stage, and he will use all the weapons in his arsenal. He will leave nuclear weapons on the table, and he is not afraid to use them.
“Another unspoken but honest reason for endorsing these strikes within Washington is to establish U.S. credibility vis-a-vis allies and adversaries. The belief of such proponents today is that this recent use of force will compel the Iranian and North Korean governments to halt activities that the Trump administration opposes. Michael Ledeen and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn authored a book and said, ‘Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business,” said writer Micah Zenko.
There is no way Trump and his team has thought through what is their next move, and what they plan to achieve. They are operating from the seat of their pants, and another enemy country is getting ready to challenge Trump and his understaffed administration.
The Syrian attack was impulsive, and Trump does not believe in following laws and the constitution. Today, everyone is praising Trump and calling him a humanitarian, but soon the world will start calling him a bully who operates with no values and principles.
