It was so predictable and aggravating: calling him “Presidential” for launching an airstrike, not giving a damn about whether it was effective in preventing the deplorable activity that supposedly inspired it for more than a week or two. These lazy starf*ckers might as well call him “erudite” for having launched his university, or a “gourmet” for selling repackaged sub-par steaks. Even after they were called out for their part in allowing a known grifter to become POTUS, the MSM pundits are back to their old habits.
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I have to admire the creativity of thinking up making a bunch of craters in a runway surrounded by mines to make repairs difficult, though that’s a very evil use of creativity. The US being afraid to enter Syrian airspace with any planes shows how committed leadership was to send the message that the Red Line must never be crossed.
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So of the 59 missles launched, only 23 hit Syrian targets. We destroyed nothing of value. This was a shitshow.
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But, but, jerbs in Arizona! McCain said it was alright.
Maybe I’m getting older and wiser but, this kabuki show is looking more and more like shit every way I look at it.
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My point was that even in the most extreme case of sensitivity to a climate change, it still isn’t an excuse given that the US has a biome to suit any of the world’s refugees. I mean, yes, if the choice is SAD or murder, clearly, SAD wins, but the choice is, in fact, murder and not-murder.
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Don’t let hatred warp your perceptions.
I have seen what is supposedly footage of the aftermath of the strike. If the video I saw was legit, the US never had any intention of harming that runway, and wanted both Syria and Russia to know it.
As for Tomahawk missiles being incapable of doing significant harm to a runway, that’s a completely absurd claim, that discredits its’ source. Sure, there are other more specialized weapons that can do more damage per missile fired, but you’re just as dead if fifty .22 bullets pass through your heart as you’d be if a single .45 round followed the same path.
Even if you don’t use cluster bombs, 25 modern Tomahawks (or 50 old Tomahawks refitted from nuke tips) will deliver 25 thousand pounds of high explosive with pinpoint accuracy. And there’s nothing in Syria that can reliably defend against even a single Tomahawk.
Perhaps I am letting my own opinion of President Trump unduly influence my evaluation of this incident, but I find it hard to believe that he had any involvement in the military aspects. This looks very much like Assad handed Trump an exploding cigar, and in response General McMaster appeared from nowhere, put two bullets six inches from either side of Assad’s head, and another two into the cigar box, then disappeared into the woodwork
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It’s not just the centre left. I believe it used to be Trotskyist doctrine that allowing the USA to be the worlds police was perfectly acceptable, it might still be.
I can’t find a source for it now, but I remember reading about it about 10 years ago.
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I’m actually quite surprised that someone even needs to say this… I thought it was obvious?
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That’s why I’m always reluctant to take on a political label more specific that Lefty. Any group I have significant views in common with have a sizeable fraction who are willing to support policies I regard as abhorrent and inhumane. For me, the ends do not justify the means.
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Actually it might.
Will it put the fear of God into Assad? Of course not.
But repairing a badly damaged airfield is not particularly cheap. And having made this step, the Americans will essentially be obliged to blow up something even bigger if Assad prosecutes a second attack, just to save face.
So unless there’s some big win to using chemical weapons, the air strike may discourage him.
Especially since chemical weapons in this context are a pretty lousy weapon. He could no doubt have killed 70 men, women and children for a vastly smaller cost using conventional weapons. Add the cost of airfield repair, and he may well decide to junk the chemical weapons.
Not nearly as satisfying as seeing Assad pay for the atrocities committed on innocents, but if Trump was going to do anything, the mostly-for-show air-strikes seems a pretty low-investment, lowish chance of escalation method of discouraging further attacks.
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You might be giving both Trump and the US military more credit than is due. The Yemen raid wasn’t that long ago…
I am no expert on Tomahawks, but the consensus of all expert opinion I’ve read said they’re the wrong tool for the job of taking out an airport, but were the only option available.
I assume there probably are more motives in the strike like Trump pissing on and cowing the Congress by showing that he’s fine with having no legal basis for military attacks (and offering one that doesn’t pass the laugh test), perhaps he has a financial motive since he owns stock in General Dynamics and personally profited from the attacks at the taxpayers’ expense, he may have been trying to scare Assad in a rash and poorly thought out strike, may have been trying to distract from the ever growing body of evidence proving his his campaign was directly coordinating with Russia to manipulate the election, or distracting from the stolen SCOTUS seat, or was just trying to give his approval ratings a boost by firing some missiles and show “strength”, a tried and true tactic of many presidents.
We can only guess. Probably the truth is a long set of motivations that’s a mix of some of those. Since the consensus of mil. experts has been that Tomahawks fired at that range can only carry ordnance that’s useless at taking out a runway, I think you might be overestimating a little extra into that aspect. But we have 72 days of fumbling, incompetence, past botched military attacks, and enough background that guessing that this is really a case of 10 dimensional chess seems less likely to me that that this is a case of the crazy racist Fox News watching uncle playing a game he has no understanding of, interest in understanding, or even capacity to understand. Call that Trump hate if you want, but until he shows any sign of competence, I’m going to assume incompetence.
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Well, it’s back up and running today. I guess destroying a cafeteria didn’t keep the airfield from operating… funny that!
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World Begs U.S. To Use Military Force in Syria So They Can Bitch About It Later
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Shock! World consists of people with different desires and motivations.
(Yes, I know that Duffelblog is satire)
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For what little my opinion is worth this is the important question and I have no idea what the correct answer is.
I note that what appears (to me) to be Kabuki has been widely applauded in the press. Suddenly he appears to be presidential. So I am prepared to give him credit for figuring that out. What I don’t know is if this signifies a big shift in US policy in syria. I’m a bit concerned cos I don’t know if people know what they are doing.
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This article is about the evidence on the ground
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Not OK at all!
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