In 2013, the US was on the verge of war with Syria. Obama prepared for war but backed down when allies would not support the idea. Trump tweeted against the idea.
Had Hillary won the election war was certain. Last week, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said that Mr. Assad’s fate “will be decided by the Syrian people.” That is exactly how it should be.
Unfortunately, Déjà Vu 2013 has arrived in yet another rush to judgment with absolutely no facts at hand.
The New York Times reports, Worst Chemical Attack in Years in Syria; U.S. Blames Assad.
One of the worst chemical bombings in Syria turned a northern rebel-held area into a toxic kill zone on Tuesday, inciting international outrage over the ever-increasing government impunity shown in the country’s six-year war.
Dozens of people, including children, died — some writhing, choking, gasping or foaming at the mouth — after breathing in poison that possibly contained a nerve agent or other banned chemicals, according to witnesses, doctors and rescue workers. They said the toxic substance spread after warplanes dropped bombs in the early morning hours. Some rescue workers grew ill and collapsed from proximity to the dead.
Western leaders including President Trump blamed the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and called on its patrons, Russia and Iran, to prevent a recurrence of what many described as a war crime.
Russia offered another explanation. A spokesman for its Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Syrian warplanes had struck an insurgent storehouse containing toxic substances to be used in chemical weapons.
Another Rush to Judgement
The Western response was perfectly predictable: Another Rush to judgment, with the New York Times leading the media parade.
The scale and brazenness of the assault threatened to further subvert a nominal and often violated cease-fire that had taken hold in parts of the country since Mr. Assad’s forces retook the northern city of Aleppo in December with Russian help, emboldening the Syrian leader to think he could win the war.
That’s pretty damn reckless given we do not know what happened.
The White House called the attack a “reprehensible” act against innocent people “that cannot be ignored by the civilized world.”
OK, but who is responsible?
Mr. Trump’s spokesman, Sean Spicer, denounced Mr. Obama for having failed to make good on his famous “red line” statement in 2012, suggesting he would intervene militarily in Syria if Mr. Assad used chemical weapons.
But in August 2013, Mr. Trump exhorted Mr. Obama not to intervene after a chemical weapons attack near Damascus that American intelligence attributed to the Syrian military killed more than 1,400 civilians, including hundreds of children, according to United States government estimates at the time.
Trump on Syria Mistake
Trump on Need for Congressional Approval
Assad’s Days Numbered
The New York Post writes Trump Administration: Assad’s Days are Numbered.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that “steps are under way” to get rid of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, CNN reported.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, President Trump blamed the attack on al-Assad, saying “something should happen.”
“I think what Assad did is terrible. I think what happened in Syria is one of the truly egregious crimes. It shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Trump told reporters, according to CNN. “I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity. He’s there, and I guess he’s running things, so something should happen.”
Defense Department officials are coming up with options for military action against Syria in retaliation for the country’s chemical attack that killed dozens of people, according to the New York Times.
Proof Please!
Not only is this Déjà Vu 2013, it’s Déjà Vu 2002 when Bush invaded Iraq on blatant lies Saddam Hussein had WOMDs.
But who gives a damn about proof?
Certainly not the New York Times nor Senator John McCain, nor Hillary Clinton, nor warmongers in the Trump administration, nor (and very unfortunately), the one person whose opinion matters most, president Trump.
False Flag?
Ron Paul says ‘Zero chance’ Assad is behind the ‘false flag’ chemical attack in Syria
“Before this episode of possible gas exposure and who did what, things were going along reasonably well for the conditions,” said Paul. “Trump said let the Syrians decide who should run their country, and peace talks were making out, and Al Qaeda and ISIS were on the run.”
“It looks like, maybe, somebody didn’t like that so there had to be an episode, and the blame now is we can’t let that happen because it looks like it might benefit Assad,” he said.
“It’s not so easy though is it? What happened four years ago in 2013, you know, this whole thing about crossing the red line?” Paul continued. “Ever since then, the neocons have been yelling and screaming, a part of the administration has been yelling and screaming about Assad using poison gas.”
Zero Sense vs Zero Chance
It makes zero sense for Assad to have used chemicals. He is back in control and he knew full well that use of chemicals would bring a strong international response.
Those in power do stupid things, but such actions are extremely unlikely, even if remotely possible. The odds are not zero, but they are extremely low.
Flashback 2013-2014
I wrote about the near war in Syria four times.
September 9, 2013: U.S. Going to Kill Syrians to Show Syria that Killing Syrians is Wrong
Yes, the US is literally funding Al Qaeda rebels to fight an insane war on trumped up evidence that Assad used chemical weapons on Syrians.
The evidence is in dispute and if chemicals were used, it is equally likely the rebels used them to goad the US into action: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Still More Hypocrisy
To top off the hypocrisy, the US is the biggest user of chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, in the entire world.
Please read about the use of White Phosphorus by the US military in violation of the convention on chemical weapons.
September 4, 2013: Warmongers Unite (As They Always Do); Boehner Caves In, Backs War; McCain Caught Playing iPhone Poker During Syria Hearing
Sarin Used? By Whom?
Let’s assume that sarin was used. Not once did Kerry say who was responsible. So who was responsible?
Please consider Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”
However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.
September 4, 2013: McCain Proposes Military Aid to Al Qaeda; Mideast Map of Who Supports Who
Who Gains From Using Chemical Weapons?
Assad had the most to lose by using chemical weapons. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar have the most to gain, especially if the chemical use was attributed to Syria (not the rebels).
As noted in Warmongers Unite (As They Always Do), Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack. Here are some additional links.
- Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack
- Russia suggests Syria ‘chemical attack’ carried out by rebels, provocation not ruled out
- Syrian Rebels Caught on Tape Discussing Chemical Weapons Attack
- Russia says Syrian rebels used chemical arms near Aleppo
- US-Trained Rebels Moved Towards Damascus Days Before ‘Chemical Attack’
John Kerry says US tests prove sarin used in Syria attacks
Kerry never answered the question “By Whom?”
August 26, 2016: Reflections on “A Moral Obscenity”: How Long Ago Was a War Against Syria Decided?
Chemical Weapons Questions
Q: Were chemical weapons used in Syria?
A: Highly likelyQ: By Assad, the rebels, or both?
A: Good question (and no one knows the answer for sure)Q: Does it matter?
A: Apparently not. The US is headed for war anyway.We Know Where They Are
Reflect back on the inane war in Iraq. Recall Donald Rumsfeld’s statement regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction: “we know where they are“.
We didn’t know then. Do we know now?
Does it matter? Apparently not.
Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Let’s flashback to August 29, 2013: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Ghouta, Syria — As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week’s chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.
Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.
The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”
However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.
Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.
“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.
Saudi involvement
In a recent article for Business Insider, reporter Geoffrey Ingersoll highlighted Saudi Prince Bandar’s role in the two-and-a-half year Syrian civil war. Many observers believe Bandar, with his close ties to Washington, has been at the very heart of the push for war by the U.S. against Assad.
Ingersoll referred to an article in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph about secret Russian-Saudi talks alleging that Bandar offered Russian President Vladimir Putin cheap oil in exchange for dumping Assad.
Likeliest Scenario
1. Rebels, ISIS, or Saudis
2. US False Flag
3. Assad accidentally hit a chemical dump
4. Assad on purpose
I believe #4 is the least likely scenario. Regardless how one orders those, attacking Syria makes zero sense.
Trump was correct in 2013. And Tillerson had the correct viewpoint last week when he said Mr. Assad’s fate “will be decided by the Syrian people.”
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
I had a inkling something like this might occur…I am speechless that “they” are trying to use this same script again…without even a god damn rewrite. I mean it’s cut & paste. UFB!
I appreciate you making the case but THEY DONT CARE. Even a child could understand how preposterous this scenario is. Assad is accused of suicide in this because THAT is the ONLY thing that makes sense. The US just killed 200 civilians in Iraq by “accident”.
If they go through with this we had better hope their IS no justice in the world because if there is we are in for a world of hurt.
If Trump is doing this to show “strength” he is as foolish as everyone has accused him of being.
Love your blog Mish, but you spend a lot of time calling news fake. You aren’t there and you aren’t plugged in so you really don’t know, do you? Lol. That is a fact. Your speculations…well…what else are they?
Exactly – but that is the point. Where is the evidence? The odious CIA probably knows but don’t expect them to do other than push for war, death and destruction on an even larger scale.
This alleged sarin attack on 75 people (in a country where hundreds are dying every day) is so absurd that there are videos of medical people treating the “victims” with their bare hands, which would be suicide if there was really sarin….Assad, about to win a civil war in which 500,000 people have died, is supposed to have done this attack on 75 people….Insane.
And again, we are relying on our “intelligence agencies”. Is Trump insane? I ask this seriously. After all that has been done to him by these agencies does he really think he can trust them, or is he just that desperate to look strong?
That video looks staged. By the way, didn’t McCain just come back from the Mideast? Funny how this kind of shit just follows him, isn’t it?
The US sabotaged the last two ceasefires, killing 60 Syrian soldiers in Sep 2016 and even more in that last ditch ceasefire Obama had cobbled together in December.
It’s what they always do. The intelligence agencies are so deep state that they really aren’t even within the state. These guys just do as they please. Problem is, we keep falling for it.
Trump got elected and I thought Charlie Brown had finally kicked the football. To the chagrin of Lucy. Nope! I can see that Charlie is once again laying on his back, duped again.
I actually tend to agree with Mish on this one. There is no certainty about who used the chemical weapons. There have been persistent claims that there are rebel groups armed with chemical weapons (i.e. WMD) that used to belong to Sadam, but which were either moved to Syria before the US attacked, or which were found by ISIS when they captured large portions of Iraq. So, that leaves 3-4 possibilities. Syria used them. Saudi armed people with them. Rebels used leftover weapons of Sadam (or had them in a warehouse which was bombed).
My personal opinion is that Assad had nothing to gain and everything to lose by using chemical weapons, so it seems bizarre that he would use them. The most likely scenario to me is that rebels waited for a bombing run by Assad, and then used some ancient weapons on civilians, expecting Assad to be blamed. (Oh, but wait – rebels can’t have old weapons from Sadam, because then it wouldn’t have been a blatant lie to say that he had WMD. Oops, sorry.)
If Trump proceeds with military action based on limited detail he is finished politically. Nothing other the Supreme Court nomination. His base will completely abandon him Going along with McCain & Graham is toxic.
I agree. Everyone knows this is a false flag, including the press. But in any event, fighting to install al qaeda affiliates in Syria is unacceptable. And Russia is not going to back down. If Trump does this, he is finished.
Trump gets neo-conned
The US population doesn’t want anymore war. It’s becoming more & more clear we don’t have a functioning government. Mish voting is pointless at this junction. Much the same in Europe. My fear is a greater number of people will soon realize this. At that point, we could be in for a really wild ride.
Mike Cernovich has a live feed on this right now. Been going for 6 hours now. been listening all day while working.
Fake News is trying to start WWIII the #SyriaHoax
I just heard that the missiles are already flying.
I’m very disappointed in Trump. I thought he was different from the rest and would pull us out of the ME as opposed to starting new wars and fomenting more regime change.
Trump’s finger was quick on the trigger. Bad sign.
It will be interesting to watch Russia’s response.
More US-led war. As if we haven’t had enough. I feel sorry for the innocent civilians in Syria.
Yep… almost 2 hours ago via Twitter feed to Mike Cernovich.
Reports we fired 70 missiles 47 reached target, the 33 that didn’t are suspected of being shot down by S-300s
23
I thought we elected Trump, not Hillary, and not Goldman Sachs….
You got played. LOL. New sucker born every minute.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a hundred times, I’m an American voter.
trumpery
1. Showy but worthless finery
2. Nonsense; rubbish.
3. Deception; trickery; fraud.
They had both candidates bought off.
Or: There wasn’t a dimes worth of difference between the two of them.
Has Assad denied the accusations or provided an alternative cause? Does he even have a twitter account?
Of course he’s denied it – many times. The bastards in Washington don’t care about truth or decency. If they did, they wouldn’t arm the Saudis.
Twitter banned Assad (probably). Apparently no one is interested in talking to Assad. I cannot see anything good coming as a result of Trumps emotional, rash response. Very disappointing.
Now the US must kill more Syrians (and likely some Russians too) because some Syrians died, even though there is no proof of who did the gas attack. The news & videos of the attack came from the White Helmets, known to be a propaganda arm of the radical islamists. It has been proven they have staged fake videos of hurt children before, but none of this is in the news right now.
It has already started. Tomahawks launched – hit Syrian airfield.
50 tomahawk missiles, $25 million.
Disgusting Mr. President. You have just lost my support. Now kindly drop dead.
LOL naive fools. Trump voters are really the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in my adult life.
Second most pathetic behind Hillary voters.
Ditto re Hilary Supporters………..
Politicians – you just cannot trust them as far as you can kick their lard filled fat arses !
“LOL naive fools. Trump voters are really the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in my adult life.”
The naive fools voted for Hillary. Hillary was the worst thing that could have been elected. She colluded with the DNC against Sanders and the MSM against Trump. She peddled influence and risked national security through abuse of a private server.
Trump has ended numerous Obama executive orders that would still be in place if Hillary was elected. She would have expanded on them, for that matter. EPA overreach has been stopped. Illegal criminals are being rounded up and illegal immigration has allegedly dropped significantly. The oil pipeline is going forward, that Obama stalled.
Definitely, better Trump than Hillary.
Trump did turn all military discretion over to the Pentagon, didn’t he? Oh how’s that working out now?
Assad’s check made out to The Clinton Foundation must’ve bounced. It’s the sort of thing that causes missiles to take flight – or remain grounded.
Syria was Clinton’s target all along. Qatar gas pipeline though Syria to southern Europe. Qatar donated heavily to the Clinton Foundation… keep in mind this was only a donation and they expected nothing in return. Nontheless, Clintons are jumping for joy. Whores.
You can be sure the champaign corks are popping in one of McPain’s many houses tonight.
Sad. Very sad. There’s zero point in the legislative branch anymore. War declarations don’t even exist in this day and age.
It’s not enough to pacify the current opposition. A dictator has to overkill his opposition, to deter his future enemies. Gas the ldefeated, display their heads on spikes, hang them from the streetlights , turn them into slaves.
The simplest answer is the most likely. Assad. Conspiracies not needed to explain the attack.
Anyway, so much for Trump the non-interventionist. Granted HRC was not a peace candidate. But to abide Trump’s bigotry and economic illiteracy and his authoritarianism in the hope that he was a peace candidate was wrong. I wish I didn’t have to say I told you so. But new drone attack zones and talks of unilateral action in N Korea and now 50+ cruise missles in a new area of operation and more soldiers in Iraq and Afghan istan .. and no declaration of war and counterproductive travel bans.. I told you so.
Assad is not that stupid
and of Course Hillary was on top of things today saying we should bomb Syria
Let us hope his “show of strength,” has his hoped for effects, I sincerely do, but I fear this is just the beginning.
I will concede that Mish’s reason for supporting Trump – he believed him to be much less militaristic, interventionist than HRC – was the best reason for supporting Trump that I heard. I rejected the premise, that Trump was less militaristic. Indeed, the evidence suggested he was even more a warmonger than she. I posted on this blog Trump’s statements evincing his and his alt-right’s bellicose, interventionist leanings.
(Where I part further with Mish is that even if I had found that he is is less interventionist than she, I still would have preferred her or anyone to him. He was and remains uniquely uniquely dangerous to our freedom.)
“The simplest answer is the most likely. Assad.”
That is not the simplest answer. Trump said Assad could stay. McCain had a hissy fit. Claimed gas attack followed. Airstrikes before actual facts could be determined. Something fishy going on.
“A dictator has to overkill his opposition, to deter his future enemies.”
Assad is not a dictator. He has been elected twice, most recently in 2014. And last April, his party won a comfortable majority in Syria’s parliament. Assad, was an ophthalmologist before agreeing to take over after his father’s death in 2000 – he was not groomed to replace him. Assad’s wife is British and has degrees in computer science and French literature. She has worked as an investment banker. The Assads speak multiple foreign languages and could have lived comfortably anywhere.
Mubarak in Egypt and Seif al-Islam in Lybia – dictator and dictator-assistant – further examples that western education is perfectly compatible being a middle east dictator. Heck, westerners ran colonies as quasi-dictatorships. A degree in French literature? Did a presumable academic familiarity with Montesquieu guide De Gaulle to accord Algeria self-determination? No.
They’re limousine dictators. Not every dictator wears fatigues, smokes tiparillos and sports a beard. And not all ophthalmologists are as politically enlightened as Rand Paul.
How convenient that Assad do this just a couple of days after Tillerson announced that the US was going to let the Syrian people decide his future.
Convenient for radical islam, yes. Now they have tricked us into fighting for them. Soon Syria will go from being a secular nation to a caliphate.
Well……its a little too Late Now..With a Gift of 60 Cruise Missiles…courtesy of President Trump…!
I guess that TIllerson should not have publicly said that Assad’s authority would be determined by the Syrian People. That was more than the War Machine could tolerate. Solution? False flag leading to continued war.
It’s all about pipelines, anyway.
Mish I am not sure who to believe or what to think. Nonetheless I would like to ask you just what it would take you to say ok I think I’ve seen enough, it’s time to take decisive action? With your extreme anti war philosophy, I seriously think u would have been on the side of Orville Chamberlain with his policy of negotiation and appeasement, or Obama drawing countless lines in the sand!
To attack on hearsay?
You’re evil and stupid.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good old false flag attack……..
So the same people who told Bush that saddam had WMD is telling Trump that Assad is the bad guy. Well look at the bright side, Trump jumped in bed with the neocons, now we don’t have to worry about him getting assassinated. All this done in the first 100 days. Amazing he held out this long.
If you suckers still can’t see your GOVERNMENT has been sold out, lock, stock and barrel to the Zionists, Global Oligarchs, and other assorted highly successful criminal types, you are beyond help.
The parasites will drain the life juice out of this place until it is an empty husk, and it will come to pass that YOUR children WILL wake up homeless in a continent THEIR forefathers CONQUERED.
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” Thomas Jefferson
“Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks United States are Government institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lenders. In that dark crew of financial pirates there are those who would cut a man’s throat to get a dollar out of his pocket; there are those who send money into states to buy votes to control our legislatures; there are those who maintain International propaganda for the purpose of deceiving us into granting of new concessions which will permit them to cover up their past misdeeds and set again in motion their gigantic train of crime.”
Congressman Louis T. McFadden – served as Chairman of the United States House Committee on Banking and Currency during the Sixty-sixth through Seventy-first Congresses, or 1920-1931
None of us know what really prompted the missile strikes or who was responsible for the gas attack on the Syrian civilians.
All we have are media reports and all of us already know that the media lies.
We are limited to our own common sense.
IMO this stinks to high heaven. Assad would never launch a gas attack because he knew what the consequences would be.
We won’t know the truth for a long, long time. Possibly never.
But there’s a 99% chance that the story line we’re being fed tonight through media sources is pure unadulterated BS.
So much risk to kill 75 people. Meanwhile we kill hundreds at a time as collateral damage in our pursuit of a peaceful stabilized ME.
The story of US-led airstrikes on Mosul that killed 200 civilians was suppressed and finally leaked out. The strikes happened on March 17 and I just read about it yesterday. It got one day of light press then fell off the radar screen.
I’ve never seen so much control over the US population. It’s amazing how well orchestrated it is.
75 can be more than enough if properly staged for maximum effect.
Remember the striking image of the little boy’s body washed ashore? Just that photo alone, later identified as someone unrelated to the uprising, was enough to trigger the massive swell of refugees.
The power of propaganda is amazing, isn’t it?
And yet we resent being treated as sheep.
The media has that level of control because many people read the headlines and don’t think for themselves.
I am proud that so many people are turning off CNN, and disconnecting from cable TV. Of course some of this is financial (cable costs too much), but if the quality of programming wasn’t awful the cable cutting wouldn’t be as severe. The cost of one day for a family at a professional sporting event costs as much or more than a month of cable.
The entire chemical attack (whomever did it) was way too media savvy; it lacked any military or psychological value. It was clearly designed for western media consumption.
Meanwhile, what does Trump’s missile attack accomplish, except to paint himself as a media puppet? Killing Assad would definitely throw Syria into civil war or anarchy (best case scenario), and might drag the US and Russia into war over some sand neither country cares about.
Trump should have aimed those Tomahawk missiles at CNN headquarters
Thanks, Mish. This whole episode smacks of a set up, so i’m glad you have been able to parse the story in so far as it’s possible. It beggars belief Assad would do now anything to alienate his people. A gas attack is only explained by a deliberate choice to destabilise the regime.
Of course the warmongers fraternity in Washington will use it precisely to achieve what their aim is. Unfortunately they are so incompetent tey are incapable of doing anything well, although their war machine thrives on mistakes.
I’m very proud of Trump supporters who question the missile attack on Syria. And there are a lot of us.
Had Hillary carried out this attack her supporters would have backed her 100%.
That’s one distinct difference between liberals and conservatives.
Trump supporters are real, not plastic.
Let’s just say we’re cynical….About everything. Trump is playing a dangerous game. None of us knows for certain what is true. What we are lead to understand presently is that this was a strategic strike on infrastructure and not to take lives. This is surely a calculated act and if a “message” is effective in Trump’s agenda while NOT escalating to much more, then Trump may be winning again. I certainly HOPE they are smarter than me….For the good.
This decision puts Trump on fragile ground for me. I hope he can rebuild my trust
I don’t like Trump putting the re-election interests of Paul Ryan and some illegal immigrants ahead of the interest of the US middle class — Trump promised to repeal obamacare and the bill to do that already passed both House and Senate last October. I don’t care if illegal immigrants lose insurance, especially if it means middle class Americans can afford actual care.
Now Trump is shooting very expensive missiles into Syria, to what end? Killing Assad isn’t going to make the middle east safer or more stable — it would put Syria into chaos. The chemical attack in Syria (whomever did it) lacked any military purpose, and it was just way too media savvy.
Trump needs to put America first. That was the promise candidate Trump made, and that is what his supporters will hold him to. If we wanted corrupt special interests to run the country we would have voted for Hilary.
In order for Tillerson’s words to be right…the people have to have guns, just like Assad does. In EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE ON THE PLANET WHEN TYRANTS SQUASH THEIR PEOPLE….the Tyrants have ALL the guns.
You want to allow the people to overthrow their Tyrants – ya’ gotta give them guns…or it will NEVER HAPPEN. Never has, never will. Wishful thinking won’t do it. Fancy words won’t do it. Give them guns. Let them fight their own war.
But they can’t do it without guns…….so you OK with THAT, Mish? You said Tillerson was right. Do you think it will happen anytime soon?
I have a faint hope that both Putin and Assad were notified in advance that Trump needed to do something to deflect criticism. Maybe there will be no more.
I suspect this was really about Trump deflecting criticism — because the entire chemical attack (whomever did it) just seemed way too pre-packaged for media consumption. It had no military value (not for Assad, and arguably not for Syrian rebels). The only people who benefited from chemical attacks were the Iranians and/or the Saudi/Qatari royals — the people who are fighting a proxy war against each other in Syria. Why spend millions in oil royalties if you can manipulate US media outlets and a spineless US president into doing your dirty work for you?
Trump the candidate would have known better. A free press (if we had one) would have been able to separate their personal hatred for Trump, with pushing the country into a bad move.
And President Trump shouldn’t allow media reports (which are usually wrong) to determine foreign policy.
This was posted Thursday morning on YouTube. Interesting: https://youtu.be/5UDLCZ2EAxc
You should read Scott Adams assessment:. Here’s the summary in a tweet:
“Syrian Airforce free punch: Solves for the Trump/Russia allegations. Pre-suades China, North Korea, Iran. Dominates news. Good for Israel.”
Trump went against Russia, although he warned them first. Therefore Trump is not a Russian agent.
Swift action warns China, North Korea, and Iran that Trump means business and will respond. Fast.
One less air base slightly weakens Syria, which helps Israel.
It’s”big league” news, so Trump gets this knowledge out there for everybody to see.
He attacked a single air base. Period. It’s a measured response. Illegal? Probably. WW III? Probably not.