Is this the U.S. of chaos or Trump taking the moral leadership of America.

[galbeedi]

Shayrat Airfield was the target of the strike, according to CNN.

 

The United States launched a military strike on a Syrian government target in retaliation for their chemical weapons attack on civilians earlier in the week.

 

On President Donald Trump's orders, US warships launched between 50-60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase where the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks were based, US officials said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Assad choked out the helpless," the President said.

 

"There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons ... and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council," he said during short remarks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago. "The refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize."

 

A US defense official said the strike was targeted on runway, aircraft and fuel points. The missiles were launched from warships in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

Strikes are over "until another decision is made," the official said.

 

The strikes are the first direct military action the US has taken against the leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's six-year civil war and represent a substantial escalation of the US' military campaign in the region, which could be interpreted by the Syrian government as an act of war.

 

Trump was very affected by the images of dead children among the civilian casualties in the Syrian chemical weapons attack and felt compelled to act, a senior administration official said.

 

The US began launching airstrikes in Syria in September 2014 under President Barack Obama as part of its coalition campaign against ISIS, but has only targeted the terrorist group and not Syrian government forces.

 

Trump met with his national security team before his dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago Thursday, where he made the decision to pull the trigger on the biggest military action of his presidency, an administration official says.

 

He sat through dinner with the President Xi as action was under way.

 

Defense Secretary James Mattis has been updating Trump about the missile strikes in Syria following his dinner with Xi, according to a US official.

 

Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump's national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster were with Trump at Mar-a-Lago at the time. Vice President Mike Pence remained in Washington, where he returned to the White House after dinner.

 

Trump's order to strike the Syrian government targets came a day after he said the chemical attacks -- whose grisly effects were broadcast worldwide where videos captured in the immediate aftermath -- "crossed a lot of lines for me" and said he felt a "responsibility" to respond.

 

"I will tell you it's already happened that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much," Trump said.

 

"When you kill innocent children -- innocent babies -- babies -- little babies with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines. Beyond a red line, many, many lines," Trump said.

 

Trump's decision to launch the strikes, the most significant military action of his young presidency, came nearly four years after the US first concluded that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons in Syria. The Obama administration concluded that Syria had violated the "red line" Obama had set a year earlier in discussing the use of chemical weapons, but ultimately decided against military action against Syria in favor of a Russian-brokered deal to extricate the country's chemical weapons stockpile.

 

Trump at the time said the US should "stay the hell out of Syria" and urged Obama on Twitter to "not attack Syria" in the wake of the 2013 chemical attack.

 

"There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your 'powder' for another (and more important) day," he tweeted in September 2013.

 

Trump repeatedly criticized Obama during his presidential campaign for not acting on his "red line" threat, but the real estate mogul also argued against deepening the US' military involvement in Syria, particularly as it related to Assad.

 

Trump argued last May in a TV interview that he would "go after ISIS big league," but said he did not support targeting Assad's regime, arguing the US has "bigger problems than Assad."

 

Syria's six-year civil war has claimed the lives of at least 400,000, according to a United Nations estimate released a year ago. More than 5 million Syrians have fled the country and more than 6 million more have been displaced internally, according to UN agencies.

 

 

[Che -Guevara]

Trump has no morality. It seems to me that traditional forces are taking root in the administration. Steve Bannon was kicked out of NSC. He threatened to resign from the administration.

 

I think Mattis ,Dunford and McMaster are asserting themselves.

[Holac]

Whatever it is, I love it. Assad got away with so much atrocity.

[galbeedi]

The Syrian military jests used chemical weapons in Idlip area Tuesday which caused death of many innocent civilians. First the Syrian and Russian governments denied the crime, then they reversed and claimed that the jets stroke a chemical storage which was bold faced lie.

 

In 2011, the Russians duped the weak leadership of Obama by agreeing to relocate the chemicals to Russia, yet these weapons have been used again and again. The talking heads keep talking about how Obama was reluctant, but his in action almost changed the world peace and harmony. Syria was a relatively stable country of 25 million people. If this war does not stop many more millions will flood to the European countries and disturb the political order of those countries. The Syrian war must be looked in a global contest of refugee migration and political stability of the host countries including Turkey.

 

The Inaction of Obama and the Syrian refugees flooding to Europe is helping the rise of right wing extremists and others to incite hate and racism. The so called anti war movement have been hijacked by the Russians and the social media is filled by Russian trolls who are working full time. People were told that the choice is between Assad and ISIS. No one is taking about that 80% of the population of Syria is against the dictatorship of Assad. How can you accept and keep in power a man who murdered 400,000 of his people.

 

This action by president Trump is the right move, but, is it enough to remove Assad or bring the end of the war. What is clear is that the United States had always acted alone when action was needed to end genocide and abuse of civilians. In 1992, Europe watched the Bosnian genocide and did not lift finger. At the end the U.S. has stepped and ended that war. launching few missiles in Syria, or killing an Al-qaeda operative in Yemen while a civil war is going on will not bring peace or stability. We all hope this is the beginning of the end for Assad

 

The problem in the west is the moderate liberals and conservatives used to take the moral ground in these issues. The conservatives became protectionist and xenophobic who does not care the death of others, while the liberals are wary of foreign wars. When the Russians tried to intervene the the gulf war of 1991, when Saddam invaded Kuwait the Americans never paid attention to the fading communist of Gorbachev, and when they tried to intervene again i Kosovo, the NATO led America did not head their protest. Yet when Putin offered to take the Syrian chemicals , Obama accepted and allowed the Russians to interfere with Syria. As the leader of the free world he could have ignored and took care of business. As Trump said yesterday, he left a mess.

 

Who knows, president Trump, the man we were all despise and try to impeach might resolve both the Syrian issue and the Israeli-Palestinian issue. If that is the case we might change our mind about the reality tv president. Being decisive part of being a leader.

 

Or as Che said the traditional republican leadership took over and they are asserting themselves.

 

 

 

 

[galbeedi]

Actually, when I talked to Dr, C/raxman Baadiyow, he said the Trump shake up of global order was needed after the slow death of people under Obama.

[Che -Guevara]

The US declared Somalia is war zone meaning the military has free rein. And today Farmajo declared Somalia is war zone. Something is in the works.

[galbeedi]

I hope they would coordinate with government. Helping the nation state military capability is the only answer to defeat terrorism and anarchy. While the government of Yemen was struggling to defeat the opposition, America was chasing their Al-qaeda bogeymen in the mountains. While president C/laahi Yusuf (AHn) was trying to relocate to Mogadishu, they hired warlords to fight against the Islamic courts.

 

Their record is not good. I hope they will help the Somali army and train an effective army, rather than fly drones in the country side.

[Che -Guevara]

I am not very hopeful. At the end of the day, only Somalis can defeat AS.

[Tallaabo]

In announcing the missile strikes, Mr Donald Trump sounded very presidential and eloquent for the first time in his life. I am cheering for him now.

[galbeedi]

We are all cheering for him for trying to stop temporary the slaughter of the innocent Syrian civilians.

 

Yesterday I watched the white house lawn conference with King Abdullah of Jordan and It seems president Trump come to his senses. No more bashing and victimizing Muslims. In the meantime , the Russian financed media are crying foul. Info Wars, Veterans today , The American conservative and other social media groups are using the usual ,"Al-qaeda will take over Syria" propaganda.

 

The Far left cares more about polar bears, dolphins and trees, while the far right is evil , hateful and racist. The sane and majority of Americans and Canadians are pragmatic centralist and realist who cares about genocide, human suffering and co-existence of communities.

 

Steve Bannon was thrown out of the national security counsel. How in the hell a failed Neo-Nazi blogger ended up being the go to guy of America's national security community. These kind of losers should be in their small beer hall swearing racist insults to others. right wing nuts will eventually make Trump weak and impeachable, but if he flows the traditional American Republican party of realism and expression of American power, he could survive the Russian trap and be a real leader. I heard Jared Kushner is the man leading the new TRump. Good for him.

 

On our side , if stops bashing and maligning innocents Muslims, and face the real issues facing America, we could support him in his effort to build America.