You had to know that the Leftist media would start attacking Trump over this. We won’t blame this as full on TDS, but it is close
The latest Syria chemical attack reveals the bankruptcy of Trump’s policies toward Assad
On April 7, 2017, the U.S. armed forces fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase to punish Bashar al-Assad for his use of chemical weapons against his own citizens. The Syrian president reportedly celebrated the one-year anniversary of the strike on Saturday by ordering another attack with chemical weapons that opposition activists said killed dozens of people in the city of Douma. This appears to be at least the eighthsuch attack by Assad this year — and the most brazen. Having seen that the United States would not react to his repeated violations of international laws, Assad has intensified his use of weapons of mass destruction.
The latest atrocity reveals as hollow much of the praise for President Trump’s 2017 strike. That applause came not only from his sycophants (“We’re proud of you,†radio host Mark Levin told the president) but also from critics bending over backward to appear fair. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), for example, said in a joint statement: “Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action. For that, he deserves the support of the American people.â€
I, too, supported the strike, but I doubted it would amount to much. As I wrote at the time: “If Trump is interested in truly ‘decisive’ action in Syria, he will need to go a whole lot further. What is required is a comprehensive diplomatic-military plan to end a six-year civil war that has inflicted so much human suffering and empowered so many extremist groups.â€
Needless to say, no such plan was ever forthcoming from the Trump administration. The administration is, in fact, a black hole for all plans. In lieu of strategy, it is governed entirely by presidential spasms and screeds.
Since taking a victory lap for his cruise-missile strike, Trump has left Assad, along with his Russian and Iranian backers, undisturbed to continue their meticulous work of mass murder. Trump evendiscontinued support for rebel groups fighting Assad and instead focused narrowly on the goal of eradicating the Islamic State. Now, with the finish line in sight, Trump appears to have set a deadline of October for the Defense Department to pull our troops out — even though the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, Israel and the Arab states are all telling him that this would be a monumental mistake. A premature departure will risk the success of the anti-Islamic State campaign and hand eastern Syria to Assad and his patrons.
Sorry for the long, long excerpt, but this was important in context. This is the liberal viewpoint, that they have to find some way to blame Trump. It is fair to note that opinion writer Max Boot does briefly hit Obama over his fecklessness, but not too much, just enough to note that Trump’s is the second regime to fail to truly respond to the conflict in Syria.
But, let’s consider: Obama set the standard for not responding to chemical weapons attacks in Syria by the Assad regime. He then figured out a way to get Russia and Iran overtly involved and leading the way in attempting to “stop” the civil war which also involves ISIS and other Islamic jihadi groups. What is Trump to do now? Airstrikes are dangerous, because they can hit Russian and Iranian military assets, sparking a wider war. He can’t go after Assad, who is protected by both the Russians and the Iranians.
If President Trump puts more boots on the ground, as Boot suggests, the “anti-war Left” will suddenly materialize again, haven taken a break from their criticism during Obama’s years, much like the media, which will also suddenly rail against getting involved in foreign adventures and stuff. Trump’s in a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation regarding an issue that was a carryover from the previous administration.
He is furthered damned if he does damned if he doesn’t regarding working with Russia to end the conflict. On one hand they say “you must work with Russia, especially diplomatically. In the next, they will be freaking out over any cooperation with Russia Russia Russia, linking this all to their so-called collusion conspiracy theories. They’ll call Trump a Putin puppet if he attempts to reach out to get something done.
Meanwhile, it appears as if someone has struck Syria overnight, and Russia and Iran are saying it was Israel. And, then there’s this
All the journos tweeting how sad and horrifying the images are, maybe spend some time thinking about how you cheerleaded our lightbringer his Excellency President Obama for saving the world by cutting a deal with Putin on chemical weapons you people celebrated. pic.twitter.com/8boqoQp8Tp
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) April 8, 2018
If it really was the Israelis, will the left who have been criticizing President Trump for not responding now praise Prime Minister Netanyahu?
Max Boot said:
Sometimes the left, who claim to be oh-so-edumacated, aren’t smart enough to realize that there are no diplomatic solutions to war; wars are ended when one side wins. Bashir al-Assad will not give up until he has defeated his enemies, because he knows that if he does, he’ll wind up being hauled before some sort of ‘international tribunal’ in The Hague, and thrown in jail. The rebels won’t give because their leaders know that they’ll face more summary justice at the hands of Assad’s military.
If there was a side in this civil war that was worth backing, President Obama would have done so, years ago. There isn’t: there is no one amongst the rebel groups which would be better for peace in the region, or civil rights in Syria. It’s like trying to pick between Adolf Hitler, Jerry Brown, Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh as to whom would be the better governor for the people. The answer will always be: none of the above!
Abbas uses chemical weapons steadily against his people, and it makes the news only when many, and especially children, are killed. President Obama had little response, and so far neither has tRump.
Millions of Syrians (as much as 1/3 the populations) have fled the violence there and are refugees, mostly to other Muslim nations, e.g., Turkey (3.4 million) Lebanon (2.2 million), Jordan (1.3 million) and Saudi Arabia (0.5-1.2 million), but obviously many have fled to Europe, disrupting nations there. Germany has taken in some 500,000 civil war refugees.
Syria has become a proxy war of sorts between Russia and the civilized world.
When it mattered, Loose Shoes did nothing but flap his lips.
https://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/obamas-blurry-red-line/
Abbas?
It’s Assad, you moron.
Note too that Max Boot is a life-long traditional conservative, but one who opposed tRump’s election.
Here’s the key point, and it applies to all tRump initiatives:
… governed by spasms and screeds… in lieu of strategy…
Perfect summation of America today. Whether on immigration, trade, taxes, deficits, regulations, climate, North Korea, Iran, Syria… there is no long-term strategy, just tRump’s “spasms and screeds”. Some issues DO require long-term planning, discussion, consideration of the effects and strategy. Perhaps we will survive and learn from our misadventure. Or perhaps we’ll get to enjoy WWIII.
https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/africa/item/23772-wikileaks-e-mails-expose-clinton-gun-running-to-terrorists
Boot is talking through his.
PS By “life-long traditional conservative”, he means Whig, RINO, Demo lite, etc.
I would be interested to know: are innocent people killed by chemical weapons somehow deader than those killed by bullets or bombs?
Bashir al-Assad had been raining death on his people for how many years now, the vast majority of them burned to death or blasted into smithereens or filled full of lead, yet somehow they don’t cause nearly as much hand-wringing in the West as the couple hundred who have been gassed.
It’s a good point. The UN estimates 250,000 killed, mostly by pro-Assad forces, and mostly civilians. Several million more are refugees in neighboring countries or in eastern Syria.
International groups have made rules even for war, but dead is dead. It’s OK to blow people up or shoot them but a crime to gas them.
From watching the news, I can see no evidence that there was actually a chemical attack. All the pictures are of little children with breathing masks or getting hosed off by fire departments. This is typical of that part of the world. They regularly manufacture atrocities as part of a media campaign to get sympathy for their causes. You can tell because all of these bombs and chemical attacks never seem to hit anything of military value but always hot hospitals, and children. After hearing “wolf” so many times, there is no reason for anyone to believe there is a real wolf.
If Assad would have just paid Hillary like he was told, none of this would have happened.