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Posted on 04/07/2017 2:13:29 AM PDT by Candor7
WASHINGTON, April 6, 2017 — The United States fired Tomahawk missiles into Syria today in retaliation for the regime of Bashar Assad using nerve agents to attack his own people.
President Donald J. Trump ordered the attack on Al-Shayrat Air Base, the base from which the chemical attack on Syria’s Idlib province was launched. The missiles were launched from U.S. Navy ships in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross fires a tomahawk land attack missile while conducting naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert S. Price The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross fires a tomahawk land attack missile while conducting naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert S. Price
The attack is in retaliation for the Syrian dictator for using banned chemical agents in the April 4 attack.
“Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,” Trump said in a statement to the nation. “Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.”
Vital National Security Interest
Trump ordered the targeted military strike on the airfield that launched the attack. “It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” the president said.
No one disputes that Syria used banned chemical weapons of the people of Idlib, he said, adding that this is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria also ignored United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically,” Trump said. “As a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies.”
Trump called on all civilized nations to join the United States in seeking an end to the slaughter in Syria, and to end the threat terrorism poses in the blighted nation.
Details of Strike
Shortly after the president’s address, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis issued a statement providing details of the strike. It took place at about 8:40 p.m. EDT -- 4:40 a.m. April 7 in Syria, he said. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross fires a tomahawk land attack missile while conducting naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert S. Price The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross fires a tomahawk land attack missile while conducting naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert S. Price
The strike was conducted using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, or TLAMs, launched from the destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Davis said in his statement. A total of 59 TLAMs targeted aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars.
“As always,” Davis said, “the U.S. took extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties and to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict. Every precaution was taken to execute this strike with minimal risk to personnel at the airfield.”
The strike was “a proportional response to Assad's heinous act,” the Pentagon spokesman said, noting that Shayrat Airfield was used to store chemical weapons and Syrian air forces. The U.S. intelligence community assesses that aircraft from Shayrat conducted the April 4 chemical weapons attack, he added, and the strike was intended to deter the regime from using chemical weapons again.
Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line, Davis said, and U.S. military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel at the airfield.
“We are assessing the results of the strike,” Davis said. “Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat Airfield, reducing the Syrian government's ability to deliver chemical weapons. The use of chemical weapons against innocent people will not be tolerated.”
The Sunnis will come right back to being our loyal allies, every bit as much as they were on Sept 10, 2001.
It makes absolutely no sense for Assad to do this except as a way of testing Trump
A very dumb move on his part
And Trump is sending a message to him and North Korea (The War MacArthur wanted to WIN )
Just like the starving children in Somalia and the atrocities in the Balkans the MSM would have been on it night after night
until Trump’s hand was forced
When Muzzies are killing each other, you betcha. The more nothing, the better.
If Trump is not capable of ignoring the MSM, we might as well have nominated Jeb! or Marco.
Is there any merit to this story?
Did we just fire 50 Tomahawks at empty buildings?
On the one hand it is good to see a president who is not all blah, blah, blah when it comes to our intentions.
On the other hand, I hope to G-d that the claim that the chemical attack came from the Assad regime PROVES totally valid, and that Trump is not being used by the Turkey-Saudi-Neocon-Globalist agenda fellow travelers still in the deep state at State, DOD and his own NSC.
“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that “steps are underway” on an international coalition to pressure Bashar Assad from power, as President Trump was being briefed on military options for Syria”
It looks like regime change is the official policy now.
I presume one place such proof might be is in the intelligence reports which convinced the President, his Defense Secretary, his cabinet, and his advisors that Assad really did launch a chemical gas attack against his people.
And evidently, the President made a judgement that something needed to be done about it. I, for one, am highly skeptical that President Trump would undertake such an action if he wasn't 100% convinced of Assad's guilt.
The armchair general second-guessers around here are really overreacting to this. I suspect ulterior motives in some cases.
One isolated cruise missile salvo and it's "Apocalypse Now" in the minds of the hand-wringers. The lack of trust and "fair weather friend" reaction is just astounding...
Being ISIS’s air force is what is “astounding”. They are having a nice celebration today. You should get yourself a candy.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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You do know what a troll is right. Especially a concerned troll? You know the definitions of such things?
Where did I show “concern”. Where did I say anything about Trump being to blame for this massive screw up?
You can read right?
I support the president, but.
These third-world mideast failed states are not in America’s vital national security interest. There is nothing to be gained other than another quagmire. Not because America is not compassionate, but because the people who live there don’t want to join the modern social order. It’s their fight for liberty, not ours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsBchlbdJdc
video of Amir Tsarfati saying Israeli intelligence is positive it was Assad behind attacks.
Apparently, there are many here who prefer Obama’s foreign policy and strategy of doing NOTHING.
Our armchair isolationists never met an America hating dictator they couldn’t find common ground with. Exactly like Democrats do. Birds of a feather, IMO.
Not just the art of war. The art of politics. In case anyone hasn’t noticed. Almost everyone in DC and the media has been against candidate and now President Trump. Most other Nations have been against him as well. As of this morning, a lot of that changed. A true, pure conservative can’t get a damn thing done in DC these days. Someone who’s willing to “make some deals” can. Trump just changed the way a lot of politicians and other countries think about him. I think it will help him get some things done.
Now there’s a whole bunch of new people against Trump. People who were his biggest supporters a week ago. With friends like that.........
Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble but the President doesn’t need our help right now. What he needs is to get things done in DC and if dropping some bombs on an airfield helps him, then that’s what HE needed to do. Now there’s talk of his WH being taken over by neocons, Kushner, making Soros happy etc. The Donald has been his own man for decades and done pretty durn well at it. I’m not going to turn on him yet.
No wonder the dems/leftists almost took over. They stick together at least. The list of good things the President has gotten done and is working on far outweighs the bad but as of this morning, 85% of his supporters have turned on him. It’s disgusting really. He fought against all odds for two years and won. He outmaneuvered everyone and duped the MSM on multiple occasions. Now everyone’s questioning his intelligence. He also gave up a whole lot to do this. His business, that he spent his entire life building up, might go down the tubes and has certainly been hurt.
I support this action by our president. However, it is my belief that he could easily have taken out all 6 of the Syrian Air bases.That may happen yet, depending on what happens next. Assad may ask for some more of this.
Very serious business.
Thank you for your kind words.
May G_d bless Israel and the United States.
Kudos for a great post.
Not just the art of war.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes just so, the Art of War:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Shambhala-Dragon/dp/B001T8B6S2
The goal is to use war to evade war. But always choosing the battle ground.This includes politics. The book is an excellent read.
I think this is exactly what President Trump is doing.
The Chinese are going to have a difficult time with President Trump.
As you indicate, no one is going to get a handle on President Trump, slippery devil!
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