Posted on 04/06/2017 8:42:56 PM PDT by Pollard
WASHINGTON — U.S. warships launched dozens of cruise missiles against a Syrian government-controlled air base Thursday in a major retaliatory strike against Syrian president Bashar Assad for chemical attacks against scores of civilians earlier this week.
The missiles were launched by the Rota, Spain-based U.S. guided missile destroyers USS Ross and USS Porter from the Mediterranean Sea and were programmed to hit aircraft shelters, ammunition storage sites, radar sites, aircraft and fuel sites at Shayrat Air Base. That base is where Assad regime military aircraft that carried out the chemical strike launched from, President Donald Trump said in an address to the nation Thursday night.
“Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” he said. “It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”
More than 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck the air base in a rural area about 25 miles south of Homs about 8:45 p.m. Eastern time.
A Navy official who asked not to be identified said the ships were in the best position to strike. "Our forward-deployed ships give us the ability to rapidly respond to contingencies. I believe the current situation in Syria is a great example of that -- this is why we're there."
Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters late Thursday that the U.S. military had conducted multiple phone calls with Russia over the "deconfliction" line to warn them in advance of the impending launch. Russia also operates from the base.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
He can’t just sit by and let Assad gas children, no matter who their fathers are. He will go after ISIS. We didn’t elect an idiot.
Your obsession with Soros is duly noted. To suggest President Trump’s action in Syria is related to Soros is severely disordered.
What is with all this “children” nonsense?
We slaughter the crap out of kids every day in Afghanistan. Not our fault, these 7th century scumbags drag their kids into a war zone. Why all the sudden do we wet ourselves over dead kids? Was everyone in Dresden a grown up?
This is stupid Swedish women talk.
A typical leftwing post.
Accuse whomeever disagrees with you of being “obsessed” “disordered.”
He can’t just sit by and let Assad gas children,[NO PROOF IT WAS ASSAD] no matter who their fathers are.
He will go after ISIS. [HE IS DOING ISIS’ FIGHTING FOR THEM]
We didn’t elect an idiot. [HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO WIPE OUT ISIS DURING THE CAMPAIGN.....NOW HE FIGHTS THEIR FIGHTS FOR THEM]
Your obnoxious & fallacious comments are greatly appreciated. I always enjoy when someone proves they are a fraud over & over again.
Calling me a leftist = ridicule straight out of Alinksy’s handbook of evil. Rather than discuss an issue you automatically dive into the mud of ad hominem attacks.
Getting gassed by Sarin is a whole ‘nother level. And the kids suffering from its after effects was caught on video.
Remember the picture of the little Vietnamese girl getting napalmed at the end of the Vietnam War and the media sh#tstorm that ensued? Trump just got ahead of it.
He turned the tables on ISIS’s plan to outmaneuver him and took control of the situation. Now he has options.
He gave ISIS air cover for a week. That is all.
Yes, and for just as long as that, we've been railing against Obama's attempts at getting us involved there. Now, all of a sudden, we're ok with it?
I was born at night, but it wasn't last night.
We weren't saying that when it was obunghole trying to get us involved over there. We were flat out pissed about that. All of a sudden we're ok with it?!?!?
Please.
I agree. Saddam was a tyrant, but he was tolerant of Christianity and most other religions (so long as they didn’t directly oppose him). Even his atrocities towards the Kurds were due in large part to their work towards separating. Does that justify chemical weapons use? Of course not. But as you said - Iraq was FAR better off pre-US intervention. Afghanistan is also in sad shape - and the world is seriously looking at how to hand that country back to the Taliban.
Libya - Was under a dictatorship yet now is run by Islamists.
And we could continue. The sad reality - there is no “WIN” for us in Syria. If we take on Assad, we open it wide for ISIS and other terrorists.
The closest to a solution would be to partner with the Russians and agree on a path. It would be a massively historic work - but is about the only possible path I can see - as we CANNOT create another power vacuum that will certainly be filled with the most radical of the radical.
You have no idea...
Having been to Jordan just last November, and speaking to “refugees” there from Syria - most are perfectly content to remain - the only issue is the massively high unemployment in Jordan - and the laws that prevent them from having a job. But many just don’t care to go back.
And as others have said - historically, people have NOT flocked back to homelands after things are “straightened out.
The population of the US would be less than 100 million if that were the case.
ISIS is made of of radicals who don’t care for anyone’s lives but their own. That is why they base right among civilians - and Assad felt he had to do something. The previous campaigns were not wiping ISIS out - so he took the desperate measure of using chemical weapons - and those don’t discriminate between good and bad guys.
But lest we forget - how exactly did we actually WIN World War 2? Think - Firebombing major cities in Germany, think firebombing Tokyo, think Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How many civilians were killed? Far more than there were military targets. War is Hell. WE here in the US built up chemical and biological weapons stockpiles with an eye towards possibly having to USE them. We still have nukes -
Lest we forget - Assad, before his civil ward began, was one of the more tolerant “dictators” in the region when it comes to Christianity and some level of freedoms. He is a slimeball, yes. And he had blood on his hands - yes. But the rebels (including the group McCain keeps referring to as the ones we are suppose to be supporting) have been essentially overrun by ISIS as well.
Blowing Assad out of office will create a massive vacuum which WILL result in radicals in control. Our problems will be MUCH worse - as ISIS and other Islamic monsters have no qualms about using WMDs or any other means to bring about what they want.
OR Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc... In war, you do what is necessary to win, or you don’t win.
You’re assuming we’re absolutely going to war and that we’re going to rebuild Syria. I don’t see any reason to make those assumptions yet.
This is the latest line on the US attack on the Syrian base:
“Four children ‘among nine civilians killed’ along with six soldiers”
Hmmm...
So Trump is going to see more dead baby pictures? Take cover!!!!!
No, I'm not. I'm taking the actions of obunghole and clintoon over the last 10 years, comparing those with the myriad tweets Trump sent out over the past # of years supporting the opposite of what he just did, and asking that hard question that no one seems to be asking: What changed?
This Syrian guy interviewed by CNN is stating the Syrian people don’t want to become refugees.
They want to stay in Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3uaf1NFxXc
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.