U.S. strikes Syrian military airfield in first direct assault on Bashar al-Assad’s government
The U.S. military launched 59 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.
President Trump said the strike was in the “vital national security interest” of the United States and called on “all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria. And also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”
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OMG-- I didn't think he'd do anything so drastic!
(This means, for one thing, that the U.S.just launched an attack on one of Putin's allies...)
Of course it might also mean that Assad will probably decide it doesn't pay to launch any more poison gas attacks on Syrian civilians...
Some TV networks have reported that our commander contacted the Russians at the base we were going to fire at to give them a chance to get out of the way so we didn't kill any of them and some networks are saying we didn't. If we did all that happened is that we shot 59 Tomahawk Cruise missiles, at a half million bucks each, just to blow up a bunch of empty buildings at an airfield, because you can be sure the Russians told their Syrian Comrades to scramble their jets and for ground personnel to get the hell out too. Cruise missiles are not to good at cratering airfields so they are out of commission for awhile, besides Syria has more airfields and this wasn't even one of their big ones. The Air Force has some really great iron and smart bombs that will do that, but that would mean high level bombing and risk getting a B52 hit by a SAM or close in shots by a fighter-bomber and that we might lose one of too and we don't want that. It strikes me that this was a fairly expensive warning shot more then anything else. Odds are we didn't even kill anyone.
I think yu might be right. I think it wasn't planned to have any militry value. rather, it was intended to send a message to Assad don't do any more poison gas attacks-- or else! We have the power to hit you hard ifnyou do it again.
And given Trump's pattern of behaviour, I think it was designed to send a message to Americans as well. Trump said the gas attack was horrible. So now he can claim he's a hero-- he stopped the Syrians from doing it again!
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump called Putin beforehand And Putin gave the OK! If it helped his friend trump's image, Putin wouldn't care if a few of his allie's soldiers got killed (Assad's). As long as Assad remained in power- it was OK with Putin. So it was was probably planned as a single attack-- to send a message to Assad not to use poision gas again, to send a message to American voters that trump acted against a Syrian tyrant and stopped future gas attacks. So that Trump looked good-- without actually weakening Assad significantly.
And all those accusations that Trump is acting recklessy? No problema-- if he just did this one attack on Assad (which will send a message to Assad)-- and then never hits Assad again.
Trump is a clever manipulator of public opinion...he's a masterful con artist and manipulator.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump called Putin beforehand And Putin gave the OK!
And I wouldn't be surprised if Putin called Assad first and set up the gassing to give Trump a reason to send in all of the Cruise Missiles that were going to land on an empty air base to push up Trump's approval ratings in the U.S. just when they have been in the mid30's and headed down with no sign of recover. Now doesn't this just give Trump a shot in the arm? Thank you Uncle Vlad!
it was intended to send a message
If we did warn the Russians, so that the strike was ultimately pointless... ... what is the message that we sent?
Ineffectual bluster.
Not a great message.....
Were the Syrian Air Force Aircraft on alert? Fueled, pilots in ready rooms, ready to run out and jump in airplanes light them up? How much notice was given? You make a lot of assumptions on not a lot of hard data. Did the strike take out a wing of offensive aircraft? Maintenance and fueling facilities? Weapons storage?
I agree with Krishna, this was a shot across the bow of this monster that uses chemical weapons on his own citizens and his friends, like the Russians who turn a blind eye to his atrocities.
Maybe Assad made a wise crack about Donnie's hands. So he blew up an undefended airbase.
That would do it. I mean he really does have bizarrely tiny, tiny hands. Really! Has everyone REALLY taken a look at them? Especially when he does that stupid little OK sign? Tiny,tiny hands. Really short fingers.
Really short fingers.
Matches his insight
So, anyway ................
Are we at war?
No......not really. Not yet anyway.
This is a good idea?
Yes, .... Assad is a war criminal at loose and he needs to be checked.
No, ..... throwing bombs a Syria, or any country that is not an imminent threat to the United States without the approval of Congress may be a Constitutional violation.
Will we eventually have to put boots on the ground in Syria and take Assad out?
Ask Donald Trump, he knows everything. For sure he will provide you with a firm answer that he will not deviate from more than 3 or 4 times in the next 2 weeks.
The again maybe Putin, via Assad just set Trump up to look like a bad-ass by "provoking" a "strongman" response to impress the American people and raise his ratings? I mean Assad has no problem gassing his own people and Putin doesn't give a shit if he does and then Trump launches an "attack" that is warned about in advance so no Syrians or Russians are harmed? I mean Trump's ratings are through the floor and this makes him popular in every rural bar in the country and with every right winger in the country. Perfect ratings booster. Perfect publicity stunt. Strange things happen in this world.
And would anyone really put it past him and is best friend Putin? I wouldn't.
Strange things happen in this world.
Yes they do. Perhaps the strangest is the reaction of conspiracy theorists when something happens that doesn't fit their insane narrative. What happens is that they get even more crazy than before.
General after General, National Security Expert after National Security Expert, have been on TV to say that this "strike" was completely symbolic. That it accomplished nothing. That there was virtually no damage done to Assad's resources. That it would not change Assad's behavior at all. That it will not change Putin's behavior at all. That it will not impress any nation or group in the region. That this will have no long term effect at all. We warned the Russians at the air base before we launched so everyone they could evacuate and you know they told their Syrian comrades why they were leaving (if they didn't know hours or days before) and to leave themselves, including the aircraft. Tomahawks do not damage airfields to any real extent. This was Assad's smallest air base. B52's would have damaged the airfield runways and knocked it out for at least several weeks. No warning would have killed Syrian pilots and support personnel, it didn't.
This was 100% political on Trump's part. This "attack" was a fucking joke. His approval ratings will rise in the rural country bars in the Mid-West and South and among the illiterate.
Good point. If his predecessor ever had the guts to make a statement like this, these same folks would be singing his praises and making statues of him in their mom's basement.
I cant help but think of the quatranes of Nostradamus that he wrote about this issue.
I thought about that when I first became aware of Osama bin Laden, as the evil Prince rising from the Middle-East.
not verbatim , but its hard to miss the alliance of the new country and the old
"bear".
the new country usually refers to the US the old bear of course has almost always been rhe Russian areas
he never really puts dates in and are written just loose enough to be questionable , but he had to because of his times , the one I got chills over was his prediction of a soldier defiling his grave and drinking from his skull a couple centuries I think before it actually happened in the napolionic era.
the new country usually refers to the US the old bear of course has almost always been rhe Russian areas
I can see that, with Trump in charge of the new country and Putin in charge of the Old Bear. It could be one of the worse crossing or joining of forces in history.
I can say it would, if it came to be , one of the most powerful this world has ever seen.
And one that could rule the world and be despots to 99.99% of the population.
Don't think we need to worry about that now randy , just read on my news feed that the results were 6-7 casualtied from the missle raid at the AB , and that putin has suspended co-operation and coordination of air activities over the area with the US , that were in place to avoid mistaken conflicts between the different planes flying .
I now predict Russian air cover and protection for Syrian AF flights in case they are attacked or diverted.
Donald Trump's top priority has always been Donald Trump. Figure it out.
As the Syrian "attack" shows. I am sure he and Putin will see it as a ratings help and all they needed was a little gas assistance from Putin's friend Assad. Our Sailors got in some live fire target practice on an unoccupied target, so it was a complete success for everyone! Huzzah! Hell, even our Cruise Missile supplier will make a few bucks (got stock in them do you Don?) Everyone is happy all around. Everyone except for the dead men, women, children and babies that it took to up Trump's popularity numbers and to draw some attention from his connection to Putin during and after the election for a few weeks. But what the fuck. It's not like they were really human were they Don or Vlad? Sometimes there has to be a small sacrifice to up the ratings some.
Just a much more complicated shiny object tossed out for a distraction.
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?" ~ Mahatma Gandhi