To the Editorial Board: Have submitted well over a dozen comments in past three days, informative, respectful, and written with a regard for the elements of style as enunciated by Messieurs Strunk and White. Not one has been published, yet all were worthy of publication. When Ms. Sullivan laid down the criterium: Comments should be informative, pertinent to subject of article, I took her suggestion to heart.I have been a faithful reader of the paper for decades, and consider this lack of recognition to be an affront,a violation of the beau ideal of fair play, and believe that it is incumbent upon the Board, if they choose to discriminate against Alexander Harrison, which seems to be the case, to explain its reasoning, and with Biblical clarity,lucidity.When not in Buenos Aires or Florida, I' m in NY. Perhaps the solution is to request, "gentillement, an appointment with Mr. Bennet, "redacter en chef," and he can explain why he has scratched me off the list of eligible commenters to the Editorial Page.Sincerely, Alexander Harrison
1
This whole missile strike thing is somewhat confusing. First: apparently all parties were forewarned as to what was coming, the Russians mostly, so they would be out of harms way thus preventing a potentially more explosive situation. Second: the aftermath of verbiage just seems like smoke and mirrors masking the alleged political connection the Trump administration has (or had) with the Russians. Thirdly: the attack didn't seem to slow Assad or their allies one bit. And fourth: such a naked egregious use of a deadly banned form of warfare against a helpless civilian population, no less, confounds reason.
3
I guess this means we're done with the whole Russia thing?
27
This really needed to be said. It's refreshing to take a break from bashing Trump for being generally unfit and to lay out some issues of real substance. It's especially useful to do so when he is basking in acclaim for a very hollow and temporary bump in approval ratings. Thank you.
22
Tom Wright, U.S. foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institute in Washington D.C., examines why, after so many years, Assad launched the sarin chemical attack in the first place. I'm in agreement. The most likely explanation is that Assad thought that Trump didn't care, that the United States had given him a carte blanche. The Trump administration had very recently said that they would not try to force Assad out, that what he did within his own borders was not a matter for the international community. Assad probably launched the attack because he thought that he had a green light from Washington. Shortly after Trump and Tillerson gave Assad the green light, the sarin attacks occurred. The Trump administration then faced the dilemma -- not to attack would have invited harsh criticisms for the green light comments. And even lower approval ratings?
Where is the condemnation for the green light comments in the first place? The president of the United States invited a brutal dictator to sarin gas his people. Leaders around the world listen to the president, even the most brutal dictators. Words matter!
Where is the condemnation for the green light comments in the first place? The president of the United States invited a brutal dictator to sarin gas his people. Leaders around the world listen to the president, even the most brutal dictators. Words matter!
53
This strike is compared to the war in Iraq, but a more apt comparison would be Bill Clinton's bombing of the Sudanese Al-Shifa drug facility in the midst of sagging poll numbers.
Hmmm... didn't Obama say he did a really smart thing about letting Russia disarm Syria of "100%" of their chemical weapons arsenal? And wasn't the always-truthful Susan Rice bragging about how successful that effort had been as recently as last January?
18
Trump has turned our government over to his children while he slogs around Mar-a-Lago in a golf cart. He is not there mentally or physically. He is a non-president who wouldn't know the military-industrial complex from a shopping mall. The word policy in the same sentence as Trump is a non-sequitur.
51
Why is it that making America great again involves bombs?
32
I guess Charles is flummoxed by Trump rising to the occasion and taking a stand against the Syrian monster, who's been savaging his own people for the last seven years. It also appears that Charles is in a tizzy because Trump acted so quickly and decisively. I'm sure that's because it shines a light on just how bad Trump is making Obama look. Yes, Obama — the handwringing incompetent whose "foreign policy" was mired in two terms of overanalysis paralysis, while 500,000 Syrians were slaughtered.
And no, I'm not buying the argument that Obama "went to Congress to ask permission to strike." Obama only went to Congress because he knew they wouldn't have the stomach to give him permission. Funny how he did think twice about that "permission" thing when he waged war against Libya.
And no, I'm not buying the argument that Obama "went to Congress to ask permission to strike." Obama only went to Congress because he knew they wouldn't have the stomach to give him permission. Funny how he did think twice about that "permission" thing when he waged war against Libya.
14
Any boots on the ground will likely come from soldiers who joined the military because they came from economically and educationally disadvantaged areas - precisely the people who voted for Trump. Why is it that the GOP yells for more "skin in the game" when it comes to health care but remains silent on a draft, where their own kids would be subject? There are not enough spurious bone spurs to give them all deferments.
27
THE TRUMP DOCTRINE: "I'm flexible. I'm very flexible. I take pride in my flexibility. It's my greatest strength. It's my flexibility that's a great inspiration to other world leaders. Other leaders--friends and foes--soon will be just as unpredictable, unbalanced and unhinged as me. I'm experienced in these matters. More experienced than anyone--than the generals. You name it. An unpredictable world I can deal with. Predictability is overrated. Throw the world a 180 degree curve ball. Get their attention. Get great press. Adulation even. Some say I have no foreign policy but flexibility is a great foreign policy--greatest policy ever. People love it. And they love me. Did you see the yuuugist crowd ever at my inauguration? National Mall, wall to wall people. And my election by acclamation? Flexibility is the key. Be flexible. Tell 'em whatever you want 'em to hear. Fool most of the people most of the time. The key to success in real estate development. In politics. In international affairs. Flexibility."
18
Ponder this. Are 75 deaths due to a chemical attack by a desperate dictator and more heinous than the tens of thousands killed by the same desperate dictator using conventional weaponry. I don't think so.
35
Hey Media!! Hey Pundits! What is the ONE thing that Trump craves the most? ATTENTION!! And you give it to him in spades!! Why? Your ratings!! You don't really care about anything else but your pocket books.
This missile attack was a purely diversional tactic to distract us from the real issues we face with this (not my) President. And shame on Congress for applauding him! You have been derelict in your duty to uphold the Constitution. When Obama asked you to authorize military force in Syria (which he was reluctant to do) you looked the other way, and pretended that if you bury your head in the sand the problem would not be yours to deal with. And you have done it again buy pretending that a (not my) President can take our nation to war without any debate or consent from YOU!
This missile attack was a purely diversional tactic to distract us from the real issues we face with this (not my) President. And shame on Congress for applauding him! You have been derelict in your duty to uphold the Constitution. When Obama asked you to authorize military force in Syria (which he was reluctant to do) you looked the other way, and pretended that if you bury your head in the sand the problem would not be yours to deal with. And you have done it again buy pretending that a (not my) President can take our nation to war without any debate or consent from YOU!
18
Before Secretary Tillerson left for Moscow, President Trump filled Him in on the finer points of THE TRUMP DOCTRINE:
"I'm flexible. I'm very flexible. I take pride in my flexibility. It's my greatest strength. It's my flexibility that's a great inspiration to other world leaders. Other leaders--friends and foes--soon will be just as unpredictable, unbalanced and unhinged as me. I'm experienced in these matters. More experienced than anyone--than the generals. You name it. An unpredictable world I can deal with. Predictability is overrated. Throw the world a 180 degree curve ball. Get their attention. Get great press. Adulation even. Some say I have no foreign policy but flexibility is a great foreign policy--greatest policy ever. People love it. And they love me. Did you see the yuuugist crowd ever at my inauguration? National Mall, wall to wall people. And my election by acclamation? Flexibility is the key. Be flexible. Tell 'em whatever you want 'em to hear. Fool most of the people most of the time. The key to success in real estate development. In politics. In international affairs. Flexibility."
"I'm flexible. I'm very flexible. I take pride in my flexibility. It's my greatest strength. It's my flexibility that's a great inspiration to other world leaders. Other leaders--friends and foes--soon will be just as unpredictable, unbalanced and unhinged as me. I'm experienced in these matters. More experienced than anyone--than the generals. You name it. An unpredictable world I can deal with. Predictability is overrated. Throw the world a 180 degree curve ball. Get their attention. Get great press. Adulation even. Some say I have no foreign policy but flexibility is a great foreign policy--greatest policy ever. People love it. And they love me. Did you see the yuuugist crowd ever at my inauguration? National Mall, wall to wall people. And my election by acclamation? Flexibility is the key. Be flexible. Tell 'em whatever you want 'em to hear. Fool most of the people most of the time. The key to success in real estate development. In politics. In international affairs. Flexibility."
3
We live in a CNN foreign policy world. If the pictures on TV upset the far left and the far right American political leaders are likely to act, at least minimally. There might be no thought to the action or what comes next. It is designed to both make people feel better and to avoid the one ordering the action not to be charged with being weak.
2
You may be the Jeremiah of our times. This is well-written and powerful.
15
Reminds me of the old Pete Seeger song, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy". We never learn even after Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Middle East is a quagmire. No good can come of this engagement with Syria.
13
Bravo, Charles. It is time to inject some reason and caution into all that ra ra.
8
WE have our own weapon of mass destruction. Donald.
13
Mr. Blow makes some good points. Perhaps the best lesson we can learn from this mess is to employ the same rational & moral principle about the legitimate use of force internationally as we do domestically, i.e., do not do it unless it is a last resort necessity in self defense or necessary defense of innocent others.
By that rule, we should not have done the thing that greatly accelerated, if not started, the endless horror destabilizing the Middle East, i.e., the unnecessary invasion of Iraq in 2003 based on dishonest & exaggerated pretexts.
There are no longer any good choices left in the Middle East. There was one once though back in 2003, i.e., do not start a needless war, and we didn’t make that right choice. Now there is only a lesson to be learned, that unnecessary war is irrational & immoral, and we don’t appear to have learned that either.
By that rule, we should not have done the thing that greatly accelerated, if not started, the endless horror destabilizing the Middle East, i.e., the unnecessary invasion of Iraq in 2003 based on dishonest & exaggerated pretexts.
There are no longer any good choices left in the Middle East. There was one once though back in 2003, i.e., do not start a needless war, and we didn’t make that right choice. Now there is only a lesson to be learned, that unnecessary war is irrational & immoral, and we don’t appear to have learned that either.
9
You hypocrite, you weep volumes of tears for the children that were brutally gassed by a heartless dictator and then you protest the president's enforcement of a red line that Obama drew but was too timid to enforce. Are you that twisted by your hate for Trump that you can't see that this action was not only justified, it was also a moral necessity. Are you so blinded by hate that you can not see that this action stands on its own in defense of human dignity and decency. How dare you snicker at and belittle a courageous act that was inspired by the images of dying children. Are you mad!
12
Good to see that Blow isn't over his Trump Derangement Syndrome! It's reassuring to know, that it still eats him up.
13
Well said, but I think that needs to be better way to respond to Trump's attacks on any one and everything he wants. I suggest that CONTESTS be held to determine more effective responses to Trump.
The responses we get are more words, words, words. But most words are soon forgotten. Trump marches on. He seems unstoppable. But perhaps, perhaps, there are ways to respond to Trump that will stop him.
Why not Stop Trump competitions?
===========================
If not now, when, 2018, or 2020?
The responses we get are more words, words, words. But most words are soon forgotten. Trump marches on. He seems unstoppable. But perhaps, perhaps, there are ways to respond to Trump that will stop him.
Why not Stop Trump competitions?
===========================
If not now, when, 2018, or 2020?
6
"... Syria is a hornet’s nest of forces hostile to America...."
Mr. Blow mentions Assad, Russia, Iran and ISIS as the factions that make Syria "a nearly unwinnable state." He neglects Turkey and its autocratic, wannabe sultan Erdogan. For the Turks have every intention, and the ruthless means, to continue their rough hold over Kurds, including those across the Syrian border. Turks have a well established history of using their greater numbers and military forces to quash any aspirations by minorities to gain either an acceptable level of autonomy or independence from Turkish rule and oppression. Turkish nationalism is probably one of the most virulent in the world. Just ask the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and others who were "ethnically cleansed" from Anatolia in the last century. Now it is the turn of the Kurds, including those in Syria. And, I predict, Iraq. An independent Kurdistan is inconsistent with Erdogan's dream of recreating a mini Ottoman state. But it is an entirely understandable dream of the long-oppressed Kurdish people in that region.
Mr. Blow mentions Assad, Russia, Iran and ISIS as the factions that make Syria "a nearly unwinnable state." He neglects Turkey and its autocratic, wannabe sultan Erdogan. For the Turks have every intention, and the ruthless means, to continue their rough hold over Kurds, including those across the Syrian border. Turks have a well established history of using their greater numbers and military forces to quash any aspirations by minorities to gain either an acceptable level of autonomy or independence from Turkish rule and oppression. Turkish nationalism is probably one of the most virulent in the world. Just ask the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and others who were "ethnically cleansed" from Anatolia in the last century. Now it is the turn of the Kurds, including those in Syria. And, I predict, Iraq. An independent Kurdistan is inconsistent with Erdogan's dream of recreating a mini Ottoman state. But it is an entirely understandable dream of the long-oppressed Kurdish people in that region.
5
The last episode of Netflix's House of Cards says it all.
"When will they ever learn?" Goes the song. Are we doomed? I am so very angry that my children and grandchildren are and will be subject to the whims of a madman and the greed of certain members of Congress who appear disinterested in checking him.
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for your constant warnings of the real dangers we face from this Administration. I also recommend Mickey Edwards' column: "Stand Up, Paul Ryan, or Step Aside." New York Times. April 7, 2017.
"When will they ever learn?" Goes the song. Are we doomed? I am so very angry that my children and grandchildren are and will be subject to the whims of a madman and the greed of certain members of Congress who appear disinterested in checking him.
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for your constant warnings of the real dangers we face from this Administration. I also recommend Mickey Edwards' column: "Stand Up, Paul Ryan, or Step Aside." New York Times. April 7, 2017.
12
And speaking of wisdom, I appreciate yours Mr. Blow.
I worry that Trump will continue to believe that he, and only he, can right these wrongs with a military response. His narcissism is not tempered much by reason or a sense of history. When he needs a boost of some sort, he may see this as a way to play the big tough guy or the 'punisher in chief''.
If he truly believes that dictators like Assad will be deterred then he needs a coalition. That would detract from his view of himself I suspect.
Solutions need rational thinking and planning.
Since he's been oh so successful with defeating ISIS because he knows more than the generals, we should all worry about escalations around the globe.
I used to sleep better at night when Obama was in charge and though his approach didn't always net the desired results nothing blew up irrevocably. Those who think every solution involves military might on display are playing with fire. We should have learned this by now but Trump doesn't appear to think learning is important.
I worry that Trump will continue to believe that he, and only he, can right these wrongs with a military response. His narcissism is not tempered much by reason or a sense of history. When he needs a boost of some sort, he may see this as a way to play the big tough guy or the 'punisher in chief''.
If he truly believes that dictators like Assad will be deterred then he needs a coalition. That would detract from his view of himself I suspect.
Solutions need rational thinking and planning.
Since he's been oh so successful with defeating ISIS because he knows more than the generals, we should all worry about escalations around the globe.
I used to sleep better at night when Obama was in charge and though his approach didn't always net the desired results nothing blew up irrevocably. Those who think every solution involves military might on display are playing with fire. We should have learned this by now but Trump doesn't appear to think learning is important.
7
President Trump must be proud of his theatrical performance the other night, in particular he was pushing the limits of his artistic abilities by invoking the death of "beautiful babies". I am guessing that he has already text Arnold, telling him "that's the way you do it, dud!"
But, as usual, Mr. Trump is wishy-washy and has forgotten about the fact that horrible things are done not only by our enemies but also by our friends and sometimes by ourselves. If he had any sense, he would have asked himself a few questions; like, how would I respond or react next time when I am asked about pictures of:
- Starving Yemeni children, who are being dismembered by cluster bombs of our close ally, Saudi Arabia;
- Young demonstrators being slaughtered in the streets of Cairo by our good friend, Egypt's president, Gen. al-Sisi;
- Burned bodies of Palestinian children, when our impeccable pal Benjamin Netanyahu decides to "mow the grass" again and drop a few tons of phosphorus bombs (which happen to be classified as chemical weapons) on them;
- Bodies of innocent civilians Iraqis, who had suffered enormously under ISIS and, instead of being liberated are killed by US bombs.
But, as usual, Mr. Trump is wishy-washy and has forgotten about the fact that horrible things are done not only by our enemies but also by our friends and sometimes by ourselves. If he had any sense, he would have asked himself a few questions; like, how would I respond or react next time when I am asked about pictures of:
- Starving Yemeni children, who are being dismembered by cluster bombs of our close ally, Saudi Arabia;
- Young demonstrators being slaughtered in the streets of Cairo by our good friend, Egypt's president, Gen. al-Sisi;
- Burned bodies of Palestinian children, when our impeccable pal Benjamin Netanyahu decides to "mow the grass" again and drop a few tons of phosphorus bombs (which happen to be classified as chemical weapons) on them;
- Bodies of innocent civilians Iraqis, who had suffered enormously under ISIS and, instead of being liberated are killed by US bombs.
9
Plus it is absolutely absurd for Trump to expect his son-in-law Kurshner, whose Jewish family barely escaped the Holicaust to ever make peace with that fascist Bannon. The only logical solution is to boot bigot Bannon out of the White House for good and take Miller with him. Neither of them belong there. They are evil Hitlerians.
6
I supported, and still do, the air strike on Syria. Maybe this is a knee-jerk response. Maybe it comes from a visceral animus against a craven war criminal who butchers and gasses his own nation's children and innocents to retain his illegitimate, ghastly grasp on power.
Still, tactical action in the absence of strategic purpose may be a starter but it is a non-ender. At least it ends in nothing good. If the Bush.2 administration failed to teach us this, then we are incapable of learning, and I fear that we're indeed incapable.
After all, we elected this President.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
Still, tactical action in the absence of strategic purpose may be a starter but it is a non-ender. At least it ends in nothing good. If the Bush.2 administration failed to teach us this, then we are incapable of learning, and I fear that we're indeed incapable.
After all, we elected this President.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
3
While you hinted at it the reality is that Trump is weak politically and views this as his way back to 'good ratings'. This is the only thing he personally cares about (ok, there is money too). He may actually have some on his staff who are horrified by the use of these weapons but that will be short lived as they will move onto the crisis du jour. The question i do have is did DJT and family buy stock the day we found out about these attacks? It would not surprise me one bit.
7
We are still waiting for the evidence Trump said he had. Tillerson will have to show the evidence in Moscow or make himself impossible.
2
Events happening in Syria and North Korea prove that the action taken by Bush in Iraq was the right one at right time.
3
I wonder if Trump had been distracted with something else and had not seen the videos on TV if we would even be talking about this.
9
Mr. Blow, as usual you are spot on, saying what all Americans should read / hear and will understand if they allow themselves to think about it for just a few moments. 45 has been itching to pull this trigger since the election, and Assad, whom the Secretary said for many years "must go", gave him the purported rationale. Assad is a horrible human being for what he does every day, not just because of his chemical weapons attack from last week. 45 is legitimizing dishonesty and hipocrasy every day, and with this "strongman" action is about to lead us down the slippery slope of inuntended consequences, even as his poll numbers are likely to rise. Where is the leader to speak against what this man does day after day?
6
We need to ask ourselves exactly what did the $60 million in ordnance spent on Al Shayrat Air Base buy us. The base is now fully operational again, Assad is still in power and Raytheon has its order book at the ready. Wouldn't those assets have been better employed by targeting Assad himself?
As a retired intelligence officer and targeteer, I have to wonder at how quickly we have forgotten the lessons learned in Iraq and Vietnam.
As a retired intelligence officer and targeteer, I have to wonder at how quickly we have forgotten the lessons learned in Iraq and Vietnam.
"War is a Racket" by Smedley Butler 1935.
4
Mr Trump is not minding his own business as the bill of goods on the package we bought stated.
"Make America Great Again" didn't carry the weight of the missiles he unleashed or the idea we would all be asked to march in lockstep behind this folly.
However the fact remains he is not alone in this or any military action, As the missiles do not launch themselves more than one well educated Officer in our military must concur before even a rubber band is sent across the room. The blame for incursions such as the recent missile strike is a burden that is in fact shared and no amount of "following orders" excuses his directives.
While the missile launch is being put on Mr Trump's shoulders there are supposedly clear minds who aided and abetted this decision applauding a madness which only profits the arms manufacturers.
Under the law Congress is the only body in our government which has the legal power to declare war. If a missile launch, which hopefully did not kill or maim anyone, doesn't fall under the purview of our Congress why do we consider them representatives of the people?
It appears Mr Trump is playing the role of the Pied Piper while Congress is getting a pass.
If the President along with Congress as his supporting cast bring us into another conflagration any where in the world, average everyday human beings are the ones who will suffer and "our" President along with "our" Congress and "our" military leaders will not be the ones to blame.
We the voter will.
"Make America Great Again" didn't carry the weight of the missiles he unleashed or the idea we would all be asked to march in lockstep behind this folly.
However the fact remains he is not alone in this or any military action, As the missiles do not launch themselves more than one well educated Officer in our military must concur before even a rubber band is sent across the room. The blame for incursions such as the recent missile strike is a burden that is in fact shared and no amount of "following orders" excuses his directives.
While the missile launch is being put on Mr Trump's shoulders there are supposedly clear minds who aided and abetted this decision applauding a madness which only profits the arms manufacturers.
Under the law Congress is the only body in our government which has the legal power to declare war. If a missile launch, which hopefully did not kill or maim anyone, doesn't fall under the purview of our Congress why do we consider them representatives of the people?
It appears Mr Trump is playing the role of the Pied Piper while Congress is getting a pass.
If the President along with Congress as his supporting cast bring us into another conflagration any where in the world, average everyday human beings are the ones who will suffer and "our" President along with "our" Congress and "our" military leaders will not be the ones to blame.
We the voter will.
2
Brilliant, Charles. And thank you for articulating the issues.
19
Truly, as Charles Blow notes, we have not proffered a real solution to the Syria problem.
The Syrian air strikes raises the question, "Is Trump now ok amongst the liberal ,humanitarian interventionists ? Will all the damaging material that liberals raised about Trump, the Russian spy , be thrown into the dust bin of history'?
The deeper problem is that our response to the rest of the world rests on two flawed premises: a) we are a city on a hill, a shinning example for the rest of the world to see and copy and b) we are exceptional as well as indispensable.
The reality is that we've become, as Martin Luther King noted 50 years ago, a violent, interventionist country. (See Vietnam , the Middle East, etc.)
Our best response to Syria is to have the UN work out, with Russian support, a peace place. Morever, we need to pull out our proxy armies, CIA armies, the drones , etc, The Saudis also need to stop funding Sunni Jahadi groups. Ditto Israel. Much of this involves the question of who will control middle eastern oil.
Making the world safe for US oil interests creates a very unstable world, And with Trump at the helm , makes it more so.
The Syrian air strikes raises the question, "Is Trump now ok amongst the liberal ,humanitarian interventionists ? Will all the damaging material that liberals raised about Trump, the Russian spy , be thrown into the dust bin of history'?
The deeper problem is that our response to the rest of the world rests on two flawed premises: a) we are a city on a hill, a shinning example for the rest of the world to see and copy and b) we are exceptional as well as indispensable.
The reality is that we've become, as Martin Luther King noted 50 years ago, a violent, interventionist country. (See Vietnam , the Middle East, etc.)
Our best response to Syria is to have the UN work out, with Russian support, a peace place. Morever, we need to pull out our proxy armies, CIA armies, the drones , etc, The Saudis also need to stop funding Sunni Jahadi groups. Ditto Israel. Much of this involves the question of who will control middle eastern oil.
Making the world safe for US oil interests creates a very unstable world, And with Trump at the helm , makes it more so.
16
The US itself is an unrepresentative pseudo-democracy based on radically distorted apportionment. This is a common cause of civil war.
3
So all of a sudden, trying to stop further chemical attacks over our beloved Muslim brothers from a dictator by showing some american muscle is becoming the wrong thing? And in an upside-down turned table Rusia, Iran and Democrats stay on the same side against the US President!!!
8
Bet you said the same thing when Republicans attacked Clinton over his missile strikes against Osama bin Laden in the 90s. Or maybe you don't recall that.
5
And now let us move to phase two of Donald's traveling road show.
Now that he has shown that horrible person Assad that he means business, the Donald is steaming towards the Korean Peninsula.
Watch out, Dear Leader, the Donald is coming after you next. The chosen one is on a role. There's a new sheriff in town and he's hell bent on cleaning up the world.
Now that he has shown that horrible person Assad that he means business, the Donald is steaming towards the Korean Peninsula.
Watch out, Dear Leader, the Donald is coming after you next. The chosen one is on a role. There's a new sheriff in town and he's hell bent on cleaning up the world.
5
What happens when an unstoppable psychotic encounters an immovable psychopath?
Monstrous chemical attack, the rhetoric fits right in with the NYTs largely unsubstantiated take on the story. But Blow takes umbrage with Trump because he responded with a military strike that killed 9 civilians for political reasons. The insane anti-Russian hysteria the NYTs daily unleashes on the public during this disgusting proxy war in Syria Trump has now taken to heart. The mercurial Trump has shelved Steve Bannon, the architect of Trump's election victory, because he was inconveniently not in step with the new Trump Hillary Clintonism. Blow whose militant stance now seems dangerous because Trump is willing to strike out based on its implications.
7
It is all a cynical ploy because of the optics to razzle-dazzle Americans and distract from Trump's incompetence and utter failings as a leader. Going to war is the oldest trick in the book. See George W. Bush in Iraq. The military-industrial complex is very happy. This all disgusts me and makes me nauseated during Passover/Holy Week when we are reminded to be merciful, to remember our own ancestor's oppression, and to bear witness.
12
We have a so-called president who thinks the White House is his privatel stage for the Trump Improv Clown Show. The image of hi on the cover of the New Yorker smashing the windows of the White House with golf balls is the picture of his administration. He is a duffer surrounded by duffers making it up as they go along. Military industrial complex, foreign policy..these are though out concepts that do not relate to Trump who flails away in random fashion hoping to get some applause from the media and his ever-loving, uninformed fans. The thumbs of a Creepy Tweeter are not those of a leader.
Mr. Blow, Thank you for reminding us that the business of war is not really the business of resolving conflicts. War is inherently about exploitation and opportunity, and Donald Trump is the ultimate opportunist. Unfortunately, Trump also has an incredibly short attention span. He was moved to 'act' in Syria because he saw and internalized one set of terrifying images. Trump was not motivated by the long history of tyranny, nor by the millions of Syrians who have been brutalized and forced to flee their homeland, or even by the unlawful actions of Assad and many of the other shady players in the region. Trump merely had an emotional reaction and responded with a one-off targeted bombing spree which deterred no one and accomplished nothing. Trump saw an opportunity to flex some military muscle and he took it, but the hornets are still buzzing and the real conflict remains unchanged and unresolved. Now what?
18
Totally on point, Charles. Not that Trump et al would actually read this (or have it read aloud to him during commercials for Fox and Friends).
9
USS Vincent Strike Force on station off NK. Anniversary of 1st Great Leader, and NK shoots small unarmed test missile into Sea of Japan. US carrier-based planes strike NK test and production sites. NK obliterates Seoul, with placement artillery (or worse). And then... With a maniac in charge on each side, what less can you expect?
5
No nearly about it- Syria is an unwinnable state.
11
Thank you for the link to the 2001 article about the effect of wartime popular emotion on Presidential popularity. I suspect that G.W. Bush's popularity soared once again in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. Then we began to sober up.
5
Somehow, Reagan's silly, risk-free, exercise in Grenada made him into a great military leader. All trump has to do is a authorize a completely ineffective, risk-free (to us and the "target") missile strike and he is now, somehow, a great military leader. trump keeps saying that he doesn't reveal his hand, he wants to keep us In suspense, yet Assad is told where to stow his planes to remain safe before the impending strike? Umm....it looks almost treasonous.
When do we get to see trump strutting around in a flight suit?
When do we get to see trump strutting around in a flight suit?
18
How easily we are duped. That little display of aggression accomplished nothing but to offer all of us another diversion. We have our "Oil Daddies" Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Russia wants to keep theirs Syria and Iran. The Oligarchs are fighting over the resources. Nothing new here. The faces change but little else. Putin/Trump, Bush/Hussein etc. We have been led to believe that ISIS is a Muslim led religious jihad when in fact, they are just a loose coalition of tribes trying to rid their country of colonialist invaders who are ruining their part of the world and stealing their natural resources. This religious angle has played into the hands of the Christian Right here. Who is the aggressor here? We've had one major attack by one of these tribes on our native soil while we have killed millions on theirs on behalf of our Oligarchs. Peel away the layers and the religion factor is laid bare as just another tool of the Oligarchs. The rich on this planet are out of control. That is the real problem we face as we dive into global climate catastrophe. This is just a side show.
8
Trump blasted away with 59 cruise missiles one day because he saw cable news that showed injured babies. Will that make fewer injured babies? no! Will Trump provide homes to the homeless babies? no!
But wait, the next popular polls will show that Trump's approval rating has soared. Boy oh boy, what an easy way to improve the polls. Let's do it again, maybe somewhere else. We could check with the generals and see where else we could bomb.
But wait, the next popular polls will show that Trump's approval rating has soared. Boy oh boy, what an easy way to improve the polls. Let's do it again, maybe somewhere else. We could check with the generals and see where else we could bomb.
10
1) Poison gas? What sort of poison gas. There are many recent pictures from Syria of persons moving the dead bodies of those "who died of sarin" that are not wearing the essential PPE to protect themselves from the nerve agent. Without that PPE, they should be dead. 2) Look at the bodies, they are not contorted or frothing at the mouth, and could equally be dead from CO or HCN poisoning, not sarin. The UN inspectors several years ago pointed out that all sides in the Syrian Civil War have used sarin and other lethal gases. All I am saying is that the use of sarin still has not been conclusively proven. And that this gas attack was engineered for political purposes, by whom is still at present open to conjecture.
It is true that Syria response was about atrocities only parenthetically. It was 1st & foremost about WMDs & a prez's only charge—protect/defend.
The phony Obama-Putin chemical weapons deal in Syria is the canary in the coal mine. Consider: Putin—Assad sponsor—oversaw removal of Assad's chemical weapons! Purpose was not to save Syrians from chemical weapons but for Obama to save face for his lack of moral courage
Similarly, O's phony legacy-driven nuke deal & secret side deals: They de facto nuclearized Iran, setting up nuke arms race in entire insane, apocalyptic region—deals that IF OBEYED, give Iran nukes in a blink of an eye as they defeat the grim logic of MAD.
Against will of people, O gave a mortal enemy devoted to our annihilation the means to achieve that very end.
He gave Iran: its operating budget - govt/terror/nuclear; regional hegemony/nuclear threshold status/ever-shrinking breakout time/nukes, R&D/ICBMs/ABMs/legitimacy.
What did we get? Increased risk of dirty bombs in harbors, nukes reaching mainland, Iran's ABM-protected impregnable nuke sites & the nightmare scenario—nuke arms race in unstable, apocalyptic region PROPELLED by MAD–which reveals 1st-strike intention.
O's pick for advisor for Iran strategic communications & planning was Ben Rhodes, aspiring fiction writer. It's hard to miss the irony. Or the arrogance. (Perversely, it was Rhodes who ultimately disclosed O's Big Nuke Lie (The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru: NYT))
The phony Obama-Putin chemical weapons deal in Syria is the canary in the coal mine. Consider: Putin—Assad sponsor—oversaw removal of Assad's chemical weapons! Purpose was not to save Syrians from chemical weapons but for Obama to save face for his lack of moral courage
Similarly, O's phony legacy-driven nuke deal & secret side deals: They de facto nuclearized Iran, setting up nuke arms race in entire insane, apocalyptic region—deals that IF OBEYED, give Iran nukes in a blink of an eye as they defeat the grim logic of MAD.
Against will of people, O gave a mortal enemy devoted to our annihilation the means to achieve that very end.
He gave Iran: its operating budget - govt/terror/nuclear; regional hegemony/nuclear threshold status/ever-shrinking breakout time/nukes, R&D/ICBMs/ABMs/legitimacy.
What did we get? Increased risk of dirty bombs in harbors, nukes reaching mainland, Iran's ABM-protected impregnable nuke sites & the nightmare scenario—nuke arms race in unstable, apocalyptic region PROPELLED by MAD–which reveals 1st-strike intention.
O's pick for advisor for Iran strategic communications & planning was Ben Rhodes, aspiring fiction writer. It's hard to miss the irony. Or the arrogance. (Perversely, it was Rhodes who ultimately disclosed O's Big Nuke Lie (The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru: NYT))
7
I really tried to read all the way through this comment, but all the CAPS and weird conspiracy theory linkages made it impossible.
7
Mr. Blow spends many words explaining why sometimes you should just let the children get murdered; if someone you don't like is in the white house. Gotta love that morality
7
Please, point to one person who's life was saved by our bombing that air field. All I require is demonstration of a single life saved. Surely, that is not too much to ask.
40
How many Iraqi children were murdered by the US-imposed sanctions between the two wars against that military colossus? At least 500,000. And Slick Willy Clinton & Madeline Albright will defend those murders to their dying breaths. These deaths were blamed on Saddam Hussein. Yes, it's always someone else's fault. Trump is no different. He'll use the deaths of others to justify enforcing the dictates of empire.
2
Jesse – please explain just how DT's limited airstrike will save any more children from being murdered.
4
Mr. Blow notes, “And the world in general, and America in particular, has a way of being wishy-washy about which atrocities deserve responses and which ones don’t.”
This is so true about selective presidential outrage. In 1988, when the U.S. was actually on Saddam Hussein’s side in the Iran-Iraq war, President Reagan took a pass on retaliating against Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurds in Halabja. Barely, four years later President Clinton turned a blind eye to the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis.
So let’s not read too much into President Obama’s inaction against Assad for his 2013 chemical attacks and praise President Trump’s response to Assad’s similar demented behavior in 2017. If presidential responses against such atrocities were not driven by politics, there would be a lot more innocent men, women and children alive today.
Why is President Trump so welcoming of dictators like Egypt’s el-Sisi and China’s Xi Jinping – both of whom are committing massive human rights violations that are unfortunately not captured on video? The hypocrisy of our moral outrage is sickening.
This is so true about selective presidential outrage. In 1988, when the U.S. was actually on Saddam Hussein’s side in the Iran-Iraq war, President Reagan took a pass on retaliating against Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurds in Halabja. Barely, four years later President Clinton turned a blind eye to the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis.
So let’s not read too much into President Obama’s inaction against Assad for his 2013 chemical attacks and praise President Trump’s response to Assad’s similar demented behavior in 2017. If presidential responses against such atrocities were not driven by politics, there would be a lot more innocent men, women and children alive today.
Why is President Trump so welcoming of dictators like Egypt’s el-Sisi and China’s Xi Jinping – both of whom are committing massive human rights violations that are unfortunately not captured on video? The hypocrisy of our moral outrage is sickening.
10
Charles Blow is calling President Trump a liar, stop the presses! On the other hand Mr. Blow possesses hard won wisdom that tells him punishing a leader and country that uses poison gas on its' own citizens is some politically motivated stunt.Of course that's when President Trump is doing it, if it were Saint Obama that's a different story. Just make sure you understand the "wisdom" contained here from the impartial sage of Times Square. Anything advocated by Saint Obama is selfless ans pure, anything from President Trump, evil and egotistically motivated. No deviation from this myopic double standard is tolerated lest the dissenter be labeled as ,gasp... a racist.If Trump cured cancer tomorrow, Mr. Blow would have it as a carefully designed ripoff of health care, while at the same time implying that a genius in conspiracy is a moron in everything else. Paying heed to such outlandish cardboard caricatures as if they're real would be laughable if not for the great number of idiots that actually believe in and lap this stuff up. Read most of the comments and tell me higher education of the liberal elite isn't an abject failure.
9
Look, the US has been involved or indirectly or directly in wars in the Middle East since the Soviet invaded Afghanistan in 1979. At that time, our policy was to aid Muslims opposed to the Soviets, which eventually led to the victory of the Taliban and 9/11.In fact Osama bin Laden may have received US and Saudi aid when he was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden#Mujahideen_in_Afghanistan. Those who oppose Trump's missile strikes can argue that he is incompetent and they may fear greater US involvement in Syria. But with the exception of the first Gulf War under Bush 1, we have failed to develop a coherent policy which used appropriate military force with an exist strategy. Obama failed to appreciate the rise of ISIS as he feared greater US involvement and Bush 2's war in Iraq was a disaster that his father opposed. Simply calling Trump a fool isn't a policy and trying to simply avoid all military options may not be viable. Remember that we tried to ignore North Korea and look how successful that policy was.
4
Mr. Blow is correct to point out the hypocrisy of Trump and the Republicans in applauding a missile strike they all refused to endorse or authorize when they were the 'opposition' party. Now that they are in controll they will do what they please and label it a success.
So let's get back to ferreting out the linkage between Trump and the Russians. (hint: the louder Trump screams, the more he denies, the closer we're getting to the truth). Let's keep the pressure on the Republicans to conduct a truthful audit of Trump's behavior, and their own, going forward. This could mean a Special Prosecutor, and may be the Shiny Object that attracts voters in the coming midterm elections.
At the moment, a Free Press is about the only democratic institution that has a chance of functioning properly. Let's exercise it.
Thanks, Mr. Blow.
So let's get back to ferreting out the linkage between Trump and the Russians. (hint: the louder Trump screams, the more he denies, the closer we're getting to the truth). Let's keep the pressure on the Republicans to conduct a truthful audit of Trump's behavior, and their own, going forward. This could mean a Special Prosecutor, and may be the Shiny Object that attracts voters in the coming midterm elections.
At the moment, a Free Press is about the only democratic institution that has a chance of functioning properly. Let's exercise it.
Thanks, Mr. Blow.
11
Did you mean "wary" instead of "weary" in the last sentence?
On second thought, both are probably appropriate.
On second thought, both are probably appropriate.
Mr Blow isbsolutely right. Chemical weapons are "monstrous" whoever uses them.
The US used White Phosphorous, arguably the most dreaded chemical weapon, which is banned, in Fallujha and more recently elsewhere in Iraq. The US, of course, used Agent Orange liberally in Vietnam where there are a disproportionate number of cancer cases in children as well as severely deformed births today, some fifty years later. Then, of course, we use cluster bombs, also banned, which are particularly deadly to children since toy-like unexplored bomblets are left to severe limbs, blind, and kill.
Recently, US air strikes on Mosul left 200-300 dead, most of them civilians, men, women and children cowering in buildings while the "coalition" dropped bombs against suspected terrorist snipers (who become "rebels" once they cross into Syria to fight Assad).
According to the independent monitoring service Airwars, based in London, US strikes have killed 2,700 civilians in Iraq and Syria, more than Russian strikes have.
The US announced that Assad was responsible for the latest chemical attack within seconds after it happened. There is no need for an investigation of the crime because the US says it has iron-clad proof that Assad was responsible. Unfortunately the videncemis all classified and cannot be made public. Pity.
The US used White Phosphorous, arguably the most dreaded chemical weapon, which is banned, in Fallujha and more recently elsewhere in Iraq. The US, of course, used Agent Orange liberally in Vietnam where there are a disproportionate number of cancer cases in children as well as severely deformed births today, some fifty years later. Then, of course, we use cluster bombs, also banned, which are particularly deadly to children since toy-like unexplored bomblets are left to severe limbs, blind, and kill.
Recently, US air strikes on Mosul left 200-300 dead, most of them civilians, men, women and children cowering in buildings while the "coalition" dropped bombs against suspected terrorist snipers (who become "rebels" once they cross into Syria to fight Assad).
According to the independent monitoring service Airwars, based in London, US strikes have killed 2,700 civilians in Iraq and Syria, more than Russian strikes have.
The US announced that Assad was responsible for the latest chemical attack within seconds after it happened. There is no need for an investigation of the crime because the US says it has iron-clad proof that Assad was responsible. Unfortunately the videncemis all classified and cannot be made public. Pity.
4
Our democracy is sinking into the quicksand of autocracy while parts of our Press stand cheering on the sidelines.
It is a known in the military industrial complex that it is necessary to blow up some of our old bombs so we can make news one and pocket some more billions.
Ironic how t rump gets all choked up seeing pictures of dead babies in the aftermath of a bombing while remaining stoic about the pictures of dead babies on the trail of tears the refugees are walking. But sending some bombs off into the distance to wreck vengeance on Assad is so much easier than opening our borders, and our hearts, to those homeless souls trying to flee Assad.
And the soulless trolls who cheer his sending of the bombs would turn on him in a heartbeat if he did open those borders.
America, we have a problem.
It is a known in the military industrial complex that it is necessary to blow up some of our old bombs so we can make news one and pocket some more billions.
Ironic how t rump gets all choked up seeing pictures of dead babies in the aftermath of a bombing while remaining stoic about the pictures of dead babies on the trail of tears the refugees are walking. But sending some bombs off into the distance to wreck vengeance on Assad is so much easier than opening our borders, and our hearts, to those homeless souls trying to flee Assad.
And the soulless trolls who cheer his sending of the bombs would turn on him in a heartbeat if he did open those borders.
America, we have a problem.
20
Here's what I think:
Vladimir Putin OWNS Donald Trump.
As President of the U.S., Trump is Putin's most valuable resource.
Putin will do whatever is necessary to protect his most valuable resource.
As an old KGB master, planning and stage-managing an attack on a civilian population using banned chemical weapons and its aftermath, including the American response, is just another day at the office for Putin.
Ask yourself, really, how has Syria been harmed? How has Trump been helped?
Trump's "swift, decisive" action will supposedly give pause to other tyrants because he's shown he can/will act unilaterally. Well, North Korea is not Syria. Not even a fool like Trump would take the same kind of action against Kim Jong-un.
Who believes he'll risk going to war with China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea?
Really. Syria was a gift from Putin to Trump.
However, it is not destined to be a gift that keeps on giving.
Vladimir Putin OWNS Donald Trump.
As President of the U.S., Trump is Putin's most valuable resource.
Putin will do whatever is necessary to protect his most valuable resource.
As an old KGB master, planning and stage-managing an attack on a civilian population using banned chemical weapons and its aftermath, including the American response, is just another day at the office for Putin.
Ask yourself, really, how has Syria been harmed? How has Trump been helped?
Trump's "swift, decisive" action will supposedly give pause to other tyrants because he's shown he can/will act unilaterally. Well, North Korea is not Syria. Not even a fool like Trump would take the same kind of action against Kim Jong-un.
Who believes he'll risk going to war with China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea?
Really. Syria was a gift from Putin to Trump.
However, it is not destined to be a gift that keeps on giving.
This was so well said that it brought me to tears. Thank you Charles Blow.
6
Obama was personally outraged by Assad's use of chemical weapons (and, lest we forget, the use of same by rebel groups), and wanted to send a message but everybody jumped his case out of fear of getting more involved in Syria while the cloud of Iraq and Libya hung over our heads. The people who twisted his arm NOT to establish safe zones and NOT to attack Syrian government's forces directly--as there was no declaration of war against the Syrian government-- were right, and Obama was right to be outraged. There can never be a consistently applied rule as to when we use military force in response to a moral outrage. Liberals such as Hillary Clinton want to use American military power in places like Syria and Libya, and conservatives such as Bush in places like Iraq (and, oh yeah, all but one Democrat voted to back Bush up on that one--did she get her "genius" check yet?).
The issue isn't whether the power to use military force should be practically and or legally vested in A PERSON such as Trump, but whether such power should be vested in any ONE PERSON at all--unless we are in imminent danger. Barring such imminent danger the president should not be able to act unilaterally, to send a message or wage war across the globe. The weak sisters in Congress, afraid of their own shadows, have encouraged the practical expansion of the president's war-making powers, and it is not as if members of Congress are going to grow institutional balls.
The issue isn't whether the power to use military force should be practically and or legally vested in A PERSON such as Trump, but whether such power should be vested in any ONE PERSON at all--unless we are in imminent danger. Barring such imminent danger the president should not be able to act unilaterally, to send a message or wage war across the globe. The weak sisters in Congress, afraid of their own shadows, have encouraged the practical expansion of the president's war-making powers, and it is not as if members of Congress are going to grow institutional balls.
7
This is truly terrifying. Not even 100 days into this nightmare of an administration, and he's already pushing us into a conflagration that will escalate, go on for years, and solve nothing. We'll be lucky if we get out of this without nuclear bombs being detonated. All to distract from the Russia investigation and his dismal approval ratings. Trump is an absolute horror. It made me sick to my stomach when I heard what he said about "beautiful babies." He doesn't care two figs for beautiful babies, or any other living being besides himself. He is a sociopath. The blood of the world is on the 63 million people that voted for this despicable person.
14
Mr. Blow please stick to the usual Trump is a racist, misogynist, sexist, xenophobe editorials - it's pretty clear that you, like President Obama, have no clue on effective foreign policy.
Oh Charles,
I'm so discouraged.
I feel ashamed to be a U.S. citizen carrying an eagle faced blue passport.
That bellicose looking eagle has a sheaf of the arrows of war in one talon & an olive branch in the other.
Well, I haven't seen much offering of olive branches, lately.
And, we're certainly not behaving in an E PLURIBUS UNUM manner, currently.
I wish there were someplace on our globe where existence were more tolerable.
I'm so discouraged.
I feel ashamed to be a U.S. citizen carrying an eagle faced blue passport.
That bellicose looking eagle has a sheaf of the arrows of war in one talon & an olive branch in the other.
Well, I haven't seen much offering of olive branches, lately.
And, we're certainly not behaving in an E PLURIBUS UNUM manner, currently.
I wish there were someplace on our globe where existence were more tolerable.
Gee? Where's Mr Blow's REAL wrath when we need it?
How can Trump's attack -- w/o Congressional approval -- on a Putin wearing Assad clothing possibly divert political attention from an election-meddling Russia w/o which Putin's chess-to-checkers' cowardice poisoning Syrian children would NEVER have been considered if the White House hadn't been unduly reduced to a sandbox whence bullies bully Russian-styled? And until we see Trump's tax returns, how can we be sure that his moves aren't fiscally motivated? Is our president playing Russian roulette?
How can Trump's attack -- w/o Congressional approval -- on a Putin wearing Assad clothing possibly divert political attention from an election-meddling Russia w/o which Putin's chess-to-checkers' cowardice poisoning Syrian children would NEVER have been considered if the White House hadn't been unduly reduced to a sandbox whence bullies bully Russian-styled? And until we see Trump's tax returns, how can we be sure that his moves aren't fiscally motivated? Is our president playing Russian roulette?
This bombing may also be political as there is no verification of the gas episode. Given the popularity of "bombing the hell out some one" as an immediate response to seen suffering ( as compared to unseen) this detracts from the Russian enquiry into election meddling and other self inflicted problems for Trump.
1
I see Blow's hate is alive an well, one has to wonder if it racial in nature? Obama's feckless Syria foreign policy that called for and actively supported regime change in Syria is largely responsible for Syria's horrors. The Obama administration policies have led to few good options. Why is it Blow cannot criticize Obama administration - is that also of a racial nature?
8
CB is simply the best writer of our time. No one documents the insanity of our ongoing crises in such a thoughtful, fair, and literate way. This column is where
poetry tried to make sense of politics
poetry tried to make sense of politics
6
As Bush lied about the WMDs in Iraq, Obama lied about having all the nerve gas removed from Iraq. Claiming all the "declared" supplies were removed is a tacit admission of failure. Some Democrats tried to gain political points by pointing out the cool calm cerebral president figured out how to have the nerve agents removed without getting into an armed conflict.
Now Russia has a foothold in Syria and the Cold War has been resurrected - Hillary's reset button was a failure and there's nothing misogynistic about saying so.
And speaking of War as a Political Weapon and lies, here's Obama (and company) doing a heckuva job that's second to none in that department during the 2012 campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6TXGdfyKIs
Now Russia has a foothold in Syria and the Cold War has been resurrected - Hillary's reset button was a failure and there's nothing misogynistic about saying so.
And speaking of War as a Political Weapon and lies, here's Obama (and company) doing a heckuva job that's second to none in that department during the 2012 campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6TXGdfyKIs
2
There were major summit conferences at Malta. Teheran. Moscow ,and Yalta to sort out the governance of the yet to be defeated Axis powers during WWII. The results weren't optimal, but a general war between the victors was avoided. Now, as in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, no one is answering the question which accompanies the obliteration of a nation-state: What next?
"Nobility of the crusade is consumed by the quagmire." That one brilliant sentence sums up the problem of getting even more embroiled with Syria. President Obama understood this. Trump does not. (I was disappointed that the NY Times ran a negative column about President Obama's handling of the Syrian crisis. Obama was correctly wary of committing even more troops to situation with no clear outcome in sight.
The cynical part of me says the airstrike was a way to boost favorability ratings and a way to distract from a staff under investigation for ties to the country that is an ally to Assad. Trump was desperate to have his ego fed, and the press complied. Reporters did not even wait to assess the outcome of the airstrike, when in fact little damage was done to assets, and Assad responded immediately with resuming bombing. Further, the airstrike was in direct contravention to what Haley had signaled to Syria. She had just recently signaled that the U.S. was not going to become further involved with the ongoing war there.
What worries me most now is that Trump sees the use of force as a way to feed his paranoia fueled massive ego.
The cynical part of me says the airstrike was a way to boost favorability ratings and a way to distract from a staff under investigation for ties to the country that is an ally to Assad. Trump was desperate to have his ego fed, and the press complied. Reporters did not even wait to assess the outcome of the airstrike, when in fact little damage was done to assets, and Assad responded immediately with resuming bombing. Further, the airstrike was in direct contravention to what Haley had signaled to Syria. She had just recently signaled that the U.S. was not going to become further involved with the ongoing war there.
What worries me most now is that Trump sees the use of force as a way to feed his paranoia fueled massive ego.
3
Chemical weapons kill cruelly, but so do napalm and other modern weapons. Some weapons, such as the mines left after wars in Southeast Asia or cluster bombs in Lebanon, continue to kill years after open hostilities have ended. Yet, I have never anyone say, "How lucky that my child, parent, uncle, husband, sibling, or friend died from something other than a chemical weapon." War's aim is to kill and modern wars kill pretty indiscriminately. Let's stop pretending that when our weapons kill say, in Yemen, the victims and those who loved them are better off than the relatives and friends of victims of chemical attacks. Let's end the hypocrisy.
2
At the end of the day, this attack was nothing but the same-old, same-old...previous presidents have ordered similar "appropriate responses", and none ever dealt a significant blow. Never pushed any nations leader to the table of negotiation, or common-sense.
The only results deemed significant by the WH are the upticks in favorable polling. So soe Americans see the bombing as good, many not so much, and many more like myself just sigh, shake our heads and move on. The gas attacks were of course criminal, but when our reaction is to hit an airstrip that was operational again in only a few hours, its nothing but old news.
That anyone might believe Trump and Co. have a better grasp on the Syria situation, or any other in the region or elsewhere, is smoking some really good stuff.
The thing to watch at the WH, is how much they are being steered by the incessant creep of world events, steered to places they never thought they'd be heading, or wanted to go. Being steered by events is going to be the norm with this Admin, as that's what happens when you go-in with no real plans other then disruption of perceived problems within the machinery of Gov't.
This Admin is going to be caught in a few differing reaction loops, that they are not prepared to administer. Thinking they could walk a straight line - they're going to see how impossible that is, when there are so many actors coming at us from so many directions.
The only results deemed significant by the WH are the upticks in favorable polling. So soe Americans see the bombing as good, many not so much, and many more like myself just sigh, shake our heads and move on. The gas attacks were of course criminal, but when our reaction is to hit an airstrip that was operational again in only a few hours, its nothing but old news.
That anyone might believe Trump and Co. have a better grasp on the Syria situation, or any other in the region or elsewhere, is smoking some really good stuff.
The thing to watch at the WH, is how much they are being steered by the incessant creep of world events, steered to places they never thought they'd be heading, or wanted to go. Being steered by events is going to be the norm with this Admin, as that's what happens when you go-in with no real plans other then disruption of perceived problems within the machinery of Gov't.
This Admin is going to be caught in a few differing reaction loops, that they are not prepared to administer. Thinking they could walk a straight line - they're going to see how impossible that is, when there are so many actors coming at us from so many directions.
2
As usual, Trump apologists trot on this forum bleat out the same, tired "Obama didn't do anything to help, blah, blah, blah" line and coveniently forget that the 43rd president -- who, unlike the man-child now fouling up the Oval Office, understands that are no easy solutions, military or otherwise, to fixing Syria's problems -- *did* in 2013 ask Congress for approval to take military action. And the GOP-controlled Congress said no. Unlike Trump, Obama took the right, lawful steps. This phony show of bravado on Thursday evening did absolutely nothing to stop Assad, and was little more than a ham-handed attempt to take attention off the major scandal: That there is growing evidence that he or others in his so-called administration colluded with Russian officials to swing the 2016 elections. To those Trump enablers and supporters, here's the news: This isn't going to erase the scandal swirling around your boy, and it while it may give him a temporary boost in the polls, it's too late. Most Americans already see him as corrupt, dishonest and wholly without merit. I'm not under the illusion that this morally bankrupt fraud will ever leave office willingly (unless either impeached before 2020 or defeated at the polls), but he and all those who voted for him better learn to understand that most thinking adults -- and we are the majority -- who love this country will *never, ever* regard him as a legitimate president.
5
We need to see Trump's tax returns. Let's get the Russians to release them.
7
Dana pleads for the inclusion of an exit strategy.
First: Trump is not really in yet (excluding fighting Isis), so he don't need that much of one for now. Second: in Syria there are no satisfying options. You any other proposal than run and let the worst scoundrels take over, either the ones backed by the Saudi going after the Shia and Alawites like they now do in Yemen, or Assad/Iran/Putin the sequel?. Third: when muscular (as she dictated the press to describe her) Hillary, after much lobbying and pressuring an unwilling Obama, got her way in Lybia, the coalition did not have any follow-up strategy either, with once again disastrous consequences. One of the consequences has been Syrian would-be rebels were successful at acquiring so many weapons that they felt confident to start their rebellion. Congrats Dana with the harvest of the hawkish actions inspired by your hero. Hillary also supported the Iraq invasion, remember.
Dana has bundled Obama and Clinton here, but Hillary has been and is the outspoken war and intervention hawk.
Dana once had a long comment up condemning the supporters at the Sanders rallies for being able to show up instead of having daily chores and routines to go after, which attracted a thousand recommendations sharing the contempt and the scorn.
Fast forward a few months and she went lyrical over those showing up at the Women Marches, upvotes also.
Can it be that (not only) Dana is blinded by sister adulation, regardless of how the sis comes?
First: Trump is not really in yet (excluding fighting Isis), so he don't need that much of one for now. Second: in Syria there are no satisfying options. You any other proposal than run and let the worst scoundrels take over, either the ones backed by the Saudi going after the Shia and Alawites like they now do in Yemen, or Assad/Iran/Putin the sequel?. Third: when muscular (as she dictated the press to describe her) Hillary, after much lobbying and pressuring an unwilling Obama, got her way in Lybia, the coalition did not have any follow-up strategy either, with once again disastrous consequences. One of the consequences has been Syrian would-be rebels were successful at acquiring so many weapons that they felt confident to start their rebellion. Congrats Dana with the harvest of the hawkish actions inspired by your hero. Hillary also supported the Iraq invasion, remember.
Dana has bundled Obama and Clinton here, but Hillary has been and is the outspoken war and intervention hawk.
Dana once had a long comment up condemning the supporters at the Sanders rallies for being able to show up instead of having daily chores and routines to go after, which attracted a thousand recommendations sharing the contempt and the scorn.
Fast forward a few months and she went lyrical over those showing up at the Women Marches, upvotes also.
Can it be that (not only) Dana is blinded by sister adulation, regardless of how the sis comes?
2
Good advice Charles on tempering our speech and forgoing the pom pom's just yet on donald's decision to pin prick the Assad regime's recent attack of his citizens.
How many slaughtered babies does it take to finally reach a point of repulsiveness. Sorry for the cynicism , but considering donald's tendencies toward narcissistic behavior and just maybe the awful picture of a baby, eyes open but obviously dead being laid into the back of a van finally was too much to bear. I can sympathize if donald felt repulsed but at the same time why does it seem that this man reacted so quickly just to prove he is a man capable of making presidential decisions.
Sen. Tom Cotton certainly had no problem cheering with pom pom's in both hands in his recent op-ed column lauding donald for his quick and decisive actions. Never in the column was mention made as to what next. Where do we go from here.
As you said Charles our thumb is on the scale. We will soon enter into the middle east's pit filled with scorpions. Which of those scorpions will affect American policies with enough venom to make a military response without full comprehension of whats to follow.
How many slaughtered babies does it take to finally reach a point of repulsiveness. Sorry for the cynicism , but considering donald's tendencies toward narcissistic behavior and just maybe the awful picture of a baby, eyes open but obviously dead being laid into the back of a van finally was too much to bear. I can sympathize if donald felt repulsed but at the same time why does it seem that this man reacted so quickly just to prove he is a man capable of making presidential decisions.
Sen. Tom Cotton certainly had no problem cheering with pom pom's in both hands in his recent op-ed column lauding donald for his quick and decisive actions. Never in the column was mention made as to what next. Where do we go from here.
As you said Charles our thumb is on the scale. We will soon enter into the middle east's pit filled with scorpions. Which of those scorpions will affect American policies with enough venom to make a military response without full comprehension of whats to follow.
1
Since Susan Rice lied (again) about the elimination of all of Syria's chemical weapons Trump had no choice but to make it clear that he will not tolerate their use. Something Obama didn't have the guts to do.
I don't agree with Mr. Blow that the children who died in the chemical weapons attack are just victims of cruel humans. They were deliberately targeted and their should be consequences from a leader (Trump) who finds it unacceptable.
I don't agree with Mr. Blow that the children who died in the chemical weapons attack are just victims of cruel humans. They were deliberately targeted and their should be consequences from a leader (Trump) who finds it unacceptable.
4
"We get too soon old and too late smart". The ongoing quagmire that began with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 would, one would hope, at some point teach us a lesson. It would appear that isn't the case given the latest "strike". Now that we have a toddler "president" who seems to wake up in a new world every morning, I fear for the future.
In 1967, Pete Seeger's "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" was censored from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. At what point do we stop doing these things?
Inasmuch as climate change is a much faster process than evolution, perhaps the question will be answered for us.
In 1967, Pete Seeger's "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" was censored from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. At what point do we stop doing these things?
Inasmuch as climate change is a much faster process than evolution, perhaps the question will be answered for us.
1
The intervention was necessary. Chemical weapons are illegal and should be stomped out. The argument that people are killed everywhere and therefore we should intervene nowhere is about as valid as the argument that we should not prosecute a murdere because his victim would die anyway. This was also a political move: to give a warning to Iran and Hezbollah . It has succeeded on both counts. It won't stop the war in Syria but it will create a better foundation for the power play of its aftermath.
5
I think you meant to say "wary" in that last sentence. Though God knows we are beyond weary when it comes to what has been wrought in the Middle East.
2
Trump's the clownish turnabouts have exposed the sad fact that there is no good policy on Syria -- only the choice among unsatisfactory ones.
Syria cannot be "solved" to American satisfaction without solving the sectarian hatred within Islam, and taming Iran and Russia. Good luck with that! ... Particularly at any price Americans might be willing to pay.
Syria cannot be "solved" to American satisfaction without solving the sectarian hatred within Islam, and taming Iran and Russia. Good luck with that! ... Particularly at any price Americans might be willing to pay.
1
Very well written article and well thought out as usual from Mr Blow. Now if only Trump would pay heed to this information and think thoroughly before acting out.
3
Business loves war, and not just the actual weapons manufactures. War is good for profits for many supporting businesses. I really think that focusing on Trump is missing the real villains who are as has been pointed out over and over again, the tiny cabal of super rich who own most everything, and are happily pulling Trump's strings.
These folks are not "loyal" to any Nation. Most wars, historically, have been about personalities of super rich individuals Kings ectcetra playing power games with each other. Putin and his oligarchic buddies want to be bigger shots than they are, the little guy in North Korea is dying to be big shot, so the are fomenting war.. Same old story. Only now there are these things called Atomic bombs.
We need to wake up soon and take control or there wont be much left to worry about.
These folks are not "loyal" to any Nation. Most wars, historically, have been about personalities of super rich individuals Kings ectcetra playing power games with each other. Putin and his oligarchic buddies want to be bigger shots than they are, the little guy in North Korea is dying to be big shot, so the are fomenting war.. Same old story. Only now there are these things called Atomic bombs.
We need to wake up soon and take control or there wont be much left to worry about.
1
All this is just a little too convenient for Trump. Just as the Nunes/Trump plot is being exposed, this wonderful opportunity comes up to change the subject again. Putin is playing a very cool hand so I don't think he's upset with events. Trump still hasn't criticized Putin. I'm beginning to think this is another plot to divert our attention. I know Trump doesn't care about beautiful babies. He only cares about Donald Trump and he's about the worst human I've seen.
2
Trump gets his intel from the same source we all do. He's an avid consumer of mass media. When he sees atrocities on TV it magnifies the cruelty which occurs daily in Syria.
All of sudden, the world takes notice, and is shocked, shocked, war crimes are being committed although they have been for years. President Obama and Secretary Kerry negotiated nothing but a temporary stop-gap measure. Hindsight always being 20/20, it worked until it didn't. Obama and Kerry are gone. Trump and Tillerson now have the Con. They're in the arena.
During WWII the civilized world pleaded ignorance to war atrocities. They had an excuse. We lived in far more primitive times. Now, the flutter of a butterfly in Asia is seen and felt around the world in an instant. It can't be ignored.
Whether Trump Tomahawked Syria or not is of little consequence. Assad had things up and running in a day. The real problem with US foreign policy is that we have none. Or it is a policy which is made up on the fly, because Trump does not know from day to day what he'll think and do. He calls it "flexibility". I call it waffling. How someone can be flexible about Syrian atrocities occurring for years is a mystery to me.
What is going on in Syria, North Korea, the Mideast, and around the globe is of US vital interests for a century. Does Trump even know we entered WWI a hundred years ago? Wanna bet? What's shocking is this clueless buffoon is just beginning to figure it out. It's complicated.
DD
Manhattan
All of sudden, the world takes notice, and is shocked, shocked, war crimes are being committed although they have been for years. President Obama and Secretary Kerry negotiated nothing but a temporary stop-gap measure. Hindsight always being 20/20, it worked until it didn't. Obama and Kerry are gone. Trump and Tillerson now have the Con. They're in the arena.
During WWII the civilized world pleaded ignorance to war atrocities. They had an excuse. We lived in far more primitive times. Now, the flutter of a butterfly in Asia is seen and felt around the world in an instant. It can't be ignored.
Whether Trump Tomahawked Syria or not is of little consequence. Assad had things up and running in a day. The real problem with US foreign policy is that we have none. Or it is a policy which is made up on the fly, because Trump does not know from day to day what he'll think and do. He calls it "flexibility". I call it waffling. How someone can be flexible about Syrian atrocities occurring for years is a mystery to me.
What is going on in Syria, North Korea, the Mideast, and around the globe is of US vital interests for a century. Does Trump even know we entered WWI a hundred years ago? Wanna bet? What's shocking is this clueless buffoon is just beginning to figure it out. It's complicated.
DD
Manhattan
2
War with a real, just mission, motivated to do good, achieving goals and then withdrawing immediately leaving the rest to the indigenous peoples. Here, war is the last straw, all other avenues for peace being exhausted. They follow rules of conduct, respects Agreements, Treaties. A war cannot be as a result of instincts, a decision taken in anger, retaliation, a singular moment of empathy.
Trump's war is not anything of the above. It is political war for a preening President, a vanity war to get the endless need for attention, a political weapon to win the popularity contest from his own citizens. No good can ever come from this.
Trump's war is not anything of the above. It is political war for a preening President, a vanity war to get the endless need for attention, a political weapon to win the popularity contest from his own citizens. No good can ever come from this.
1
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
2
"Being weary here isn’t a sign of weakness; to the contrary, it’s a display of hard-won wisdom." Your words and this editorial radiate with knowledge. Yet, what do we do? When one sees/views innocent young children, their parents and grandparents gasping for breath and foaming at the mouth, as a human being one knows that we are required to do more than change the channel. We may not be able to prevent the atrocities are taking place in Syria... but what do we "constructively" do to open doorways and options that allow human beings to live out their lives humanely? I would like to hear your thoughts about this.
2
On the one hand Trump unleashes the might of the military against a bunch of hardened concrete bunkers with varying degrees of success. On the other, like a bumbling emperor, he heads to Mar-A-Lago, on the tax payers dime, and lays up in one of his own bunkers and rests after a hard week at the office.
No matter how gruesome the pictures, the attack on Syria was for show. And like Trump's administration to date, lacked any sense of long term coherence. What we see is what we're going to get from Trump. Impulsiveness and ignorance will form his reaction to major events as it always has. The value of distraction can also be calculated into the equation. For the latter, the attack on Syria was a perfect response. It changed the dialogue for a few days, took the heat off the healthcare mess, his entanglements with Russia, FBI, intelligence service and congressional investigations, and the fighting for the president's ear between Kushner and Bannon.
Even Devin Nunes was happy. Got him off the front page for a few days. I'm surprised he didn't board Air Force one wearing his golf shoes.
No matter how gruesome the pictures, the attack on Syria was for show. And like Trump's administration to date, lacked any sense of long term coherence. What we see is what we're going to get from Trump. Impulsiveness and ignorance will form his reaction to major events as it always has. The value of distraction can also be calculated into the equation. For the latter, the attack on Syria was a perfect response. It changed the dialogue for a few days, took the heat off the healthcare mess, his entanglements with Russia, FBI, intelligence service and congressional investigations, and the fighting for the president's ear between Kushner and Bannon.
Even Devin Nunes was happy. Got him off the front page for a few days. I'm surprised he didn't board Air Force one wearing his golf shoes.
1
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for an excellent column. Your insight into this situation is welcome amidst a sea of praise for this bombing. I have been skeptical of Trump's war action since the very moment it happened. I am sure that ISIS is cheering because Trump has given them a present.
1
As commenters vent their personal hatred of Trump they should note that international opinion, particularly in the Middle East, supports the action, minus, of course, the views of the usual suspect nations aligned with Iran and its ally Russia. Like it or not, the world looks to the United States to set the leadership tone and has done so since the end of WWII. Nature abhors a vacuum, and several years of a feckless foreign policy has done nothing but strengthen Iran and provide a foothold for Russia to regain influence in the region.
6
Dear NYerExiled,
I roughly agree but I have three mild corrections, no offense intended.
1) It's totally reasonable to hate Trump, and it's a good idea psychologically to vent that hatred rather than letting it just build up inside.
2) Nature doesn't actually abhor a vacuum, really it's just that air (and other gasses) has mass and will expand to fill any volume. But the vast majority of all the volume of the universe is vacuum, so presumably Nature is fine with that.
3) Just in case your nom de plume implies you think this, you're not really exiled from NYC. Trump probably is, but we're fine with most people and you can come back anytime you want.
I roughly agree but I have three mild corrections, no offense intended.
1) It's totally reasonable to hate Trump, and it's a good idea psychologically to vent that hatred rather than letting it just build up inside.
2) Nature doesn't actually abhor a vacuum, really it's just that air (and other gasses) has mass and will expand to fill any volume. But the vast majority of all the volume of the universe is vacuum, so presumably Nature is fine with that.
3) Just in case your nom de plume implies you think this, you're not really exiled from NYC. Trump probably is, but we're fine with most people and you can come back anytime you want.
1
Trump is a fool who barges in where angels fear to tread, with no follow-up plan. But it nicely distracted from not only the Russian investigation and Gorsuch confirmation, but also from the most recent lackluster jobs report. Trump cannot blame that jobs report on Obama anymore, after he took credit for earlier great reports... And where are his tax returns, by the way?
7
Whether it's President Trump, Obama or Clinton one thing is certain; the Middle East is a quagmire. Any nation that sends large numbers of troops into that area is going to become a target for all sides. Unfortunately history right up to today has shown that the only way to have relative peace in the area is by authoritarian governance. Everything else seems to erupt into factional war and the winners of that war than impose their own authoritarianism. If Assad goes someone else will step into the role of the oppressor. The United States would do best to keep as much distance as possible from that multifaceted conflict.
3
It is interesting the president was driven to action on seeing the dead children after the gas attack, yet has no compassion to help their plight to immigrate to America while they are alive.
Also interesting that when Mr Obama asked for Congressional Approval to respond to the initial gassing events in 2013, as he is required to do by law, he was refused by Congress.
Yet the current occupant acts unilaterally and many in Congress cheer.
Not much of a double standard, eh?
Also interesting that when Mr Obama asked for Congressional Approval to respond to the initial gassing events in 2013, as he is required to do by law, he was refused by Congress.
Yet the current occupant acts unilaterally and many in Congress cheer.
Not much of a double standard, eh?
11
Not interesting, but frustrating and angering. Capital Hill is a joke that plays childish games, based on which team the president is on. Shameful and makes us look even more ridiculous to the rest of the world.
1
Six years of listening to pundits have left most people in the dark about Syria. I have been surprised at how easily Americans cheered this bombing, as if bombing a run way will seriously deter the Syrian government from killing its own people. I am here to remind America that this is not your job. If you want to invoke international law on chemical weapons, you need to use proper channels for international consent. That includes investigating the scene of the crime before bombing. America has no high ground to stand on, they killed nearly triple the amount of civilians in a bombing raid two weeks before the attack in Khan Shaykhoun, but no one remembers that now. People also think that bombing Syria is new; the US lobbed 12,000 bombs on Syria in 2006. America also conducts its own investigations after committing war crimes, that is what dictatorships do now and they can cite America for precedent. Americans want to know what they can do to help; they think they are the solution. I am here to tell you that you not. You are the problem. Since 2001, Americans have created terrorism enacting a never ending revenge for September 11. 3,000 may have died in the twin towers, but 1.5 million Muslims have died in 3 countries alone in the aftermath. Enough of the blood shed. Enough! What Americans can do is get their democracy in order, demand public debate about the 8 wars you are currently waging across the world, none of them received new authorization from Congress.
10
From shock and awe it's aw shucks. It's mission accomplished, no matter what the mission was, if there was ever a mission to Trump's mercurial mini-madness.
I hope the willy-nilliness of Trump's missile storm in Syria accomplishes the wrecking of his mob's trust and adoration. It will have been worth the cost this ineffectual, empty fireworks display cost this country if Trump's glassy-eyed voters and the rest of the GOP get enough of him. And get rid of him the first chance they get.
The old proverb about pride preceding a fall is delicious to contemplate with regard to Trump. His fall should be the biggest disaster even he has ever created, the biggest in all the history of the earth, and beyond, given the mountains of pride he has stacked up behind him like so much construction waste.
Wish there were a way to fast forward.
I hope the willy-nilliness of Trump's missile storm in Syria accomplishes the wrecking of his mob's trust and adoration. It will have been worth the cost this ineffectual, empty fireworks display cost this country if Trump's glassy-eyed voters and the rest of the GOP get enough of him. And get rid of him the first chance they get.
The old proverb about pride preceding a fall is delicious to contemplate with regard to Trump. His fall should be the biggest disaster even he has ever created, the biggest in all the history of the earth, and beyond, given the mountains of pride he has stacked up behind him like so much construction waste.
Wish there were a way to fast forward.
7
The missile strike in Syria was an attempt to bolster Trump's image. He was willing to send 20 million Americans to an early death by denying them affordable affordable health care so I question his newly found concern for the youngsters gassed in Syria. The chaos in the White House revealed his lack of leadership and his inability to think about a long term strategy. His image is what drives him not the welfare of the nation. He allows others to make decisions because he tires easily when confronted by difficult matters. So off he goes to Mar-A-Lago to play golf at 3 million dollars a trip paid by the American tax payers.
7
Sir, your ideas are well thought out and clearly expressed. But, I doubt the Syrian people Assad considers his enemies have the luxury to worry, if Trump has a long game strategy. Assad has killed nearly 97% of civilians in this civil war.
Did you think Bill Clinton had a moral imperative to intervene in Rwanda? How many people must Assad kill before we accept a moral imperative to act against Assad? One million? Is there a number of dead?
The primary threat to Syrian people is not Daesh. It is Assad. We can look to to France and see how they accepted there moral obligation in Mali. They made a tough decision and stopped extremists from rolling all the way to Timbuktu.
Syrian people don't have luxury of political or intellectual debates about killing done by Assad. They know as long as Assad is in power he will keeping slaughtering his citizens.
Did you think Bill Clinton had a moral imperative to intervene in Rwanda? How many people must Assad kill before we accept a moral imperative to act against Assad? One million? Is there a number of dead?
The primary threat to Syrian people is not Daesh. It is Assad. We can look to to France and see how they accepted there moral obligation in Mali. They made a tough decision and stopped extremists from rolling all the way to Timbuktu.
Syrian people don't have luxury of political or intellectual debates about killing done by Assad. They know as long as Assad is in power he will keeping slaughtering his citizens.
Grifter-in-Chief Trump reminds me of my puppy. Well, she is a five-year-old Golden. But she acts like a puppy. A brown leaf, and there are a lot of them this time of year in Vermont, blows across the lawn and she chases it. Then another leaf blows across the lawn in a different direction and there she goes. Another wild goose chase. Her behavior makes me laugh.
4
Sure, but your puppy doesn't have the keys to total destruction of humanity, luckily. That's why Trump's antics are not as funny.
Trump knows nothing about Syria or world events. He knows very little about anything else when it comes to policy making. What Trump knows is TV. He loves to watch TV. He gets his news and his brilliant ideas from watch TV. At one point in his TV viewing he saw "Wag The Dog". As Dustin Hoffman's character noted, no matter what the crisis, he would brush it off with the comment, "that's nothing", and then equate said problem to some show biz snafu he had to confront and how he he dealt with it. Problems at home, problems with Russia, problems with health care, tax reform, infrastructure, no problem. That's nothing. Trump has 59 Tomahawks and knows how to use them.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
4
I cannot be sure how I feel about this strike - other than I hate and distrust military "solutions" to anything - but I'm pretty sure how I'd feel if I were a Syrian citizen target.
After waiting all this time, hoping for some relief from neverending assaults by their own homicidal government backed by no less powers than Russia and Iran, with nowhere to run or hide, they dreamed of help from the only place it could come, the superpower - the United States - to save them and their families.
Then it came, and they soared on a silver ray of hope, clutching their children, only to have it disappear underneath them, plummeting back not only to earth, but below, into the craters just left by the newest "conventional weapon" bombing that the US and the world cared nothing about.
We Americans have nothing to be proud of. We blew up a few planes Russia will replace this week; destroyed no chemical weapons; did nothing about the ISIS threat; displaced no rabid crazed leader intent on killing his own; saved no lives - men, women or children that Assad is determined to kill; and offered no sanctuary for those who have survived so far.
Trump spent 60 million tax dollars for less than nothing, confused the country and the world once again about his foreign "policy", played the part of the decisive leader when he doesn't know what the next decision is - doesn't know the question, and got the national conversation off his possible criminal and treasonous acts.
Mission accomplished.
After waiting all this time, hoping for some relief from neverending assaults by their own homicidal government backed by no less powers than Russia and Iran, with nowhere to run or hide, they dreamed of help from the only place it could come, the superpower - the United States - to save them and their families.
Then it came, and they soared on a silver ray of hope, clutching their children, only to have it disappear underneath them, plummeting back not only to earth, but below, into the craters just left by the newest "conventional weapon" bombing that the US and the world cared nothing about.
We Americans have nothing to be proud of. We blew up a few planes Russia will replace this week; destroyed no chemical weapons; did nothing about the ISIS threat; displaced no rabid crazed leader intent on killing his own; saved no lives - men, women or children that Assad is determined to kill; and offered no sanctuary for those who have survived so far.
Trump spent 60 million tax dollars for less than nothing, confused the country and the world once again about his foreign "policy", played the part of the decisive leader when he doesn't know what the next decision is - doesn't know the question, and got the national conversation off his possible criminal and treasonous acts.
Mission accomplished.
102
The airbase was operational within 24 hours. A few inoperable jets were hit, the rest were relocated once the Russians advised the Syrian Air Force of the pending attack. What a complete stunt----he's a con artist with an entire arsenal at hand. What a dangerous con-artist---a total film-flam man.
6
I heard the leader of China was in town. Did anything happen?
4
The Fourth Estate must RESIST normalizing this president. I may be in the minority, but dropping tomahawk missiles, with advanced notice to Putin & Assad, does not a president make. The same Republican politicians who sent a letter to then President Obama saying they would not vote to approve military intervention in Syria, something that Trump did not do, are now congratulating themselves & Trump for being decisive. A bit hypocritical & very worrisome. Thank you Mr. Blow for continuing to speak truth to power.
8
Its hard to believe that Americans love violence.This is supported by how good
violent movies do at box office. It is also supported by the dismal progress
that we have made in controlling guns. So why we should be surprised that
a man like Trump gets a boost in his ratings? That is why,I believe, his Generals
made the decision for him to drop the big 59 in Syria. What will happen if
Trump wants the ratings to go up higher?
violent movies do at box office. It is also supported by the dismal progress
that we have made in controlling guns. So why we should be surprised that
a man like Trump gets a boost in his ratings? That is why,I believe, his Generals
made the decision for him to drop the big 59 in Syria. What will happen if
Trump wants the ratings to go up higher?
3
I always fear retaliation, when we use force. As a vet, I have embraced a peaceful approach to handling anything. The innocent suffer and are in line for slaughter as the powerful deal in death. These issues are complex, and I'm sorry but it appears to me that Mr Trump is marching on with his bullying tactics. Not surprised.
5
We've had a couple days since the attack on Syria to see whether the operation had more to it than just the military-PR distraction that we had been waiting for.
The answer is evidently not. It didn't flow from a policy and it isn't part of a plan of action.
But it's apparently not a part of a PR operation of the type we might have expected, either. There was no prep or follow-through. It was just President Trump responding to what he had seen on tv.
In other words, it was a tweet. The military kind.
As Jack Nicholson's Joker said, "I make art until someone dies."
Policy aside (since this wasn't a policy), it illustrates how unsuited to the job Mr. Trump is.
The answer is evidently not. It didn't flow from a policy and it isn't part of a plan of action.
But it's apparently not a part of a PR operation of the type we might have expected, either. There was no prep or follow-through. It was just President Trump responding to what he had seen on tv.
In other words, it was a tweet. The military kind.
As Jack Nicholson's Joker said, "I make art until someone dies."
Policy aside (since this wasn't a policy), it illustrates how unsuited to the job Mr. Trump is.
9
Brilliant column, Charles. It may sound like I'm being insulting (i'm not), but what you state is obvious to all but those who can't see that "attack' for what it was -- grandstanding. Russia was informed, in advance, about the raid, so you know that Assad knew as well. All of those "planes" destroyed, were probably parts scavenged piles of junk. The intact runways, also showed a keen lack of purpose.
7
Thank you for this column. At this particular point in time, the one thing more painful to accept, other than Trump's general lunacy, is that tinny cacophony of voices springing up from the Democratic corner in full macho support of his idiotic decision to bomb an airfield in Syria. Yes, they even match the (fake!) sentimentality from our great little POTUS. The Democrats should know better than poor little POTUS because he is at least such a liar that even his tears are well, just,.. so crocodile. Maybe that makes them liars too, or just really stupid, or a little of both maybe?
And Hillary’s recent rant about Syria?
"Don't even get me started!”, as the late Don Rickles might have said.
And Hillary’s recent rant about Syria?
"Don't even get me started!”, as the late Don Rickles might have said.
3
Thank you, Charles, for articulating the reasons why this military action was making me squirm.
5
Trump governs by manipulation, not policy. He is under investigation of his close relationship with Putin so he has to show that they are disagreeing about foreign policy. He sees a window of opportunity after the horrific gas attack in Syria, fires a few missiles at them, instructs his Secretary of State to go to Russia to protest, changes the domestic conversation, gets praised for being a tough but thoughtful commander in chief.
He won the election this way and unless the people resist and the media reports accurately he'll continue to govern this way, to the bitter end.
He won the election this way and unless the people resist and the media reports accurately he'll continue to govern this way, to the bitter end.
6
This is unquestionably the best and most insightful opinion piece I have ever--EVER-- read.
Let's not fight Trump's usual (and Orwellian) "alternative facts" with more alternative facts. For the author to call the rationale for attacking a target of Assad's chemical insanity an "echo" of Bush/Cheney falsehoods about Iraqi WMD itself assumes a falsehood: that the use and spread of chemical weapons is NOT in our security interests. Saddam no longer had WMD; Assad does, despite assurances by both Putin and Obama that Syria's were removed.
2
Did you notice that the killing of over 200 civilians in an American airstrike in Mosul two weeks before the Syria attack has completely disappeared from the news?
7
The first question we need to ask, particularly after the Iraq fake case for war, is: was Assad actually behind the chemical attacks? The mere fact that this key point has been skippped over by almost all of our media, including this essay, should arouse suspicious about yet another planned march to war.
Second, we need to ask was Trump's attack legal under domestic and Int'l law? The answer here is clearly no since there is no threat from Assad to the US and in terms of Int'l law no UN authorization and no pending attack against the US.
Second, we need to ask was Trump's attack legal under domestic and Int'l law? The answer here is clearly no since there is no threat from Assad to the US and in terms of Int'l law no UN authorization and no pending attack against the US.
The Trump administration announces with some clarity that Syria's Civil War is not our fight. Days later Assad unleashes sarin gas on his people - not as a military imperative but more to probe the Trump administration, testing America's resolve to stay out of Syria. And within a few days we have launched 59 tomahawk missiles into Syria - mirroring the lack of military effectiveness but answering Assad's probe with a definitive symbolic answer. At least on Thursdays we are appalled at the use of chemical weapons (even if conventional weapons that blow people to pieces don't register American concern sufficient for a response).
It seems that sarin gas and tomahawk missiles are the language of communication between Syria and the United States. If this passes for diplomacy between Assad and Trump, we can all hope that it is short-lived and that this chapter is concluded.
Oh yes, the Trump administration also gives a hearty, "Thanks, Obama!" as if this whole series of events is the fault of the former President. Obama's handling of the multi-sided mess in Syria is genuinely open to debate but last week's fiasco belongs to Assad and Trump. You can't signal a green light to a tyrant and then be appalled when they drive through it.
It seems that sarin gas and tomahawk missiles are the language of communication between Syria and the United States. If this passes for diplomacy between Assad and Trump, we can all hope that it is short-lived and that this chapter is concluded.
Oh yes, the Trump administration also gives a hearty, "Thanks, Obama!" as if this whole series of events is the fault of the former President. Obama's handling of the multi-sided mess in Syria is genuinely open to debate but last week's fiasco belongs to Assad and Trump. You can't signal a green light to a tyrant and then be appalled when they drive through it.
4
Thanks Mr. Blow.
Now I wish you would walk down the hall and have a chat with the flag wavers in the NYT, editors and columnists like Nicolas Kristoff.
In 1969 I went to another war that the NYT initially strongly supported, in Vietnam, and wasn't there a month before I started coming to terms with the great lie of American moral superiority.
As you say, Syria is a horrible place, but after this attack it remains a horrible place, and Assad is still there. In the meantime, what are Trump, Tillerson, et al going to do about South Sudan and all the other horrible places?
Missiles aren't going to do the job and neither is tough talk.
Now I wish you would walk down the hall and have a chat with the flag wavers in the NYT, editors and columnists like Nicolas Kristoff.
In 1969 I went to another war that the NYT initially strongly supported, in Vietnam, and wasn't there a month before I started coming to terms with the great lie of American moral superiority.
As you say, Syria is a horrible place, but after this attack it remains a horrible place, and Assad is still there. In the meantime, what are Trump, Tillerson, et al going to do about South Sudan and all the other horrible places?
Missiles aren't going to do the job and neither is tough talk.
13
We're in great danger. Some commentators speak of Trump's impulsiveness, belief in his own largely absent knowledge, and reliance on intuition as "fire bells in the night", and they're not wrong.
The greater - or perhaps complementary - danger lies in his well established ability to "read his audience" and raise it to a frenzy by use of his barnstorming salesmanship skills.
Look back at the frenzy that preceded the walk-over of Gulf War I. Then move forward to the fanaticism that accompanied the run-up to the disaster of the Iraq invasion.
Trump is anything but "brilliant", but he's remarkably cunning when it comes to manipulating his audience, and few things excite a large part of the American citizenry more than a call to rally 'round the flag in pursuit of a cause made to appear noble whether it is or not. Trump is clearly capable of cloaking an ignoble - perhaps even self-serving - cause in the mantle of a Crusade.
The fears about Trump's impulsive finger on the trigger expressed during the campaign are rightly resurfacing. His impulsiveness, reinforced by his unquestioned talent as a rabble-rouser, truly do constitute "a fire bell in the night".
The greater - or perhaps complementary - danger lies in his well established ability to "read his audience" and raise it to a frenzy by use of his barnstorming salesmanship skills.
Look back at the frenzy that preceded the walk-over of Gulf War I. Then move forward to the fanaticism that accompanied the run-up to the disaster of the Iraq invasion.
Trump is anything but "brilliant", but he's remarkably cunning when it comes to manipulating his audience, and few things excite a large part of the American citizenry more than a call to rally 'round the flag in pursuit of a cause made to appear noble whether it is or not. Trump is clearly capable of cloaking an ignoble - perhaps even self-serving - cause in the mantle of a Crusade.
The fears about Trump's impulsive finger on the trigger expressed during the campaign are rightly resurfacing. His impulsiveness, reinforced by his unquestioned talent as a rabble-rouser, truly do constitute "a fire bell in the night".
14
American bravura usually trumps wisdom (no pun intended ). We are a nation of "America is great" chest pounders, couch warriors and ignorance. If we taught history at some decent level in our schools maybe we might avoid the folly of war.
13
Does one need to be a conspiracy theorist to believe this Syria raid has been cooked up by both trump and putin to divert attention from the Russia investigation? As trump becomes more "credible" he would be better able to get sanctions lifted after a while? What a repulsive creep!
17
You really think the Trump WH could keep that a secret? You really think they have that sort of control over their staffers?
IF Putin is seeking to disrupt the US political system, be it an election or during the normal of course of business, a conspiracy such as the one you present between the two is the best way to rip the nation into pieces.
There is nothing to gain by Putin keeping such a thing secret.
Plus, despite my severe dislike of Trump and Co, I dont think even he is that diabolical and evil to enter into such a deal, that involved gassing civilians as means to distract (which it won't do, the investigations are going forward, they have to) anyone. Trump might be incompetent, but that sort of evil? I'm not going there yet...
IF Putin is seeking to disrupt the US political system, be it an election or during the normal of course of business, a conspiracy such as the one you present between the two is the best way to rip the nation into pieces.
There is nothing to gain by Putin keeping such a thing secret.
Plus, despite my severe dislike of Trump and Co, I dont think even he is that diabolical and evil to enter into such a deal, that involved gassing civilians as means to distract (which it won't do, the investigations are going forward, they have to) anyone. Trump might be incompetent, but that sort of evil? I'm not going there yet...
Well Donald, you certainly "bombed the hell" out of them, didn't you. Now we're all trying to figure out exactly what happened.
Probably a given, you warned the Russians of your intentions.
Given that, did the military humor you by letting you appear to be so presidential, and did they purposefully cause as little damage as they could? It was either that, or we have some serious failures with our weapons systems. Possibility, but highly unlikely.
The generals, your generals that you claim to know more than they do, just might possibly be on to you Donald. Maybe they were trying to save you from yourself?
They know their jobs. You don't know yours. They have years of training and experience. You don't have a clue about your job.
You're doing a heck of a job Mr. President. Keep up the good work.
Probably a given, you warned the Russians of your intentions.
Given that, did the military humor you by letting you appear to be so presidential, and did they purposefully cause as little damage as they could? It was either that, or we have some serious failures with our weapons systems. Possibility, but highly unlikely.
The generals, your generals that you claim to know more than they do, just might possibly be on to you Donald. Maybe they were trying to save you from yourself?
They know their jobs. You don't know yours. They have years of training and experience. You don't have a clue about your job.
You're doing a heck of a job Mr. President. Keep up the good work.
11
Great analysis Mr. Blow. I think that Trump made this attack impulsively, without any consideration for the consequences or future planning, because he always acts like this. I'm looking forward to how he's going to explain this to Congress, because by law he has to within 60 days of the strike.
This was also done to distract from the Gorsuch appointment and the Russia collusion investigation. If it was done out of sincere humanitarian concerns, then Trump wouldn't simultaneously be refusing to accept refugees from the same humanitarian disaster.
I believe too that Assad should have been punished for the use of chemical weapons, but then I've believed for years that Assad should be captured and tried for war crimes, then jailed for life. Or failing that, he could just be summarily cratered.
What Syria really needs is a multinational invasion, and to be taken over by a U.N. commission to govern it until it can govern itself. This would be expensive and cause a lot of casualties, but less so than letting the carnage continue.
What Trump should have done was join with Russia to enforce a no-fly zone over all of Syria, for starters. And then negotiate with Russia to come up with a plan to get rid of Assad but restore order in Syria; not easy, but possible.
As it is, his useless attack killed a handful of people but left the airbase operational, did nothing about CW stockpiles, and angered Russia incredibly. Hugely foolish move, as expected from Trump.
This was also done to distract from the Gorsuch appointment and the Russia collusion investigation. If it was done out of sincere humanitarian concerns, then Trump wouldn't simultaneously be refusing to accept refugees from the same humanitarian disaster.
I believe too that Assad should have been punished for the use of chemical weapons, but then I've believed for years that Assad should be captured and tried for war crimes, then jailed for life. Or failing that, he could just be summarily cratered.
What Syria really needs is a multinational invasion, and to be taken over by a U.N. commission to govern it until it can govern itself. This would be expensive and cause a lot of casualties, but less so than letting the carnage continue.
What Trump should have done was join with Russia to enforce a no-fly zone over all of Syria, for starters. And then negotiate with Russia to come up with a plan to get rid of Assad but restore order in Syria; not easy, but possible.
As it is, his useless attack killed a handful of people but left the airbase operational, did nothing about CW stockpiles, and angered Russia incredibly. Hugely foolish move, as expected from Trump.
11
Paragraphs four and five are so eloquent, so elegant, so heart-wrenching, so simple and powerful. Thank you, Mr. Blow.
10
The hypocrisy of feigning distress at seeing dying babies and not opening our doors to Syrian refugees is without conscience.
Refusing to read, study, learn, talk to competent advisors before making decisions is a dereliction of duty.
Fiddling at Mar-a-Lago while destroying our worldwide reputation, undermining our safety and undermining our preeminence in academia, research and development, humanitarian aid, at home and abroad and business is flushing American ingenuity and good will down the toilet. Who benefits from this?
Refusing to read, study, learn, talk to competent advisors before making decisions is a dereliction of duty.
Fiddling at Mar-a-Lago while destroying our worldwide reputation, undermining our safety and undermining our preeminence in academia, research and development, humanitarian aid, at home and abroad and business is flushing American ingenuity and good will down the toilet. Who benefits from this?
It will cost about $90 million to replace the 59 cruise missiles fired. The missiles they fired originally cost about $1 million each. But they will be replaced with the new version which costs$1.5 million each. Pretty expensive to put an airport out of commission for less than 24 hours. Syria did lose about 3% of its fixed wing airplanes.
9
So a guy who works in real estate bombed another country on behalf of all Americans. Am I the only one who thinks that's weird?
11
"War is a business, a lucrative one."
After WWII we had an economic boom. Infrastructure & housing builds that forever changed the landscape of our country.
Included with this came social change to the nuclear family and the dynamics of society. Cultural, gender and social justice were impacted in a way that is still being felt.
When humans do not have to worry about basic survival they can turn their minds to real issues and humans needs via the social awakening of the late 50's & 60's.
Sometimes the World needs to fight to remove evil, apathy and lazy attitudes toward our place in the global family and what we as a country really stand for.
Unfortunately with an intellectual challenged & reactionary president like trump, the ability to pick your fights with strategic thought rather then emotion is debatable.
After WWII we had an economic boom. Infrastructure & housing builds that forever changed the landscape of our country.
Included with this came social change to the nuclear family and the dynamics of society. Cultural, gender and social justice were impacted in a way that is still being felt.
When humans do not have to worry about basic survival they can turn their minds to real issues and humans needs via the social awakening of the late 50's & 60's.
Sometimes the World needs to fight to remove evil, apathy and lazy attitudes toward our place in the global family and what we as a country really stand for.
Unfortunately with an intellectual challenged & reactionary president like trump, the ability to pick your fights with strategic thought rather then emotion is debatable.
3
We must keep vigilant eyes on Trump's generals, whom he will likely defer to on Syrian military tactics and, if one is ever formulated, an overall strategy. "Mission creep" is a grave concern. A fear, of course, is that our impulsive, ignorant, and incoherent leader is fully capable of following the dictates of his glorious "gut", ignoring any solid advice and thoughtful recommendations from his experts. A greater fear is a resort by Trump in Syria to his "shiny object" playbook, when the Russian investigations start really heating up.
6
Are Americans really ready for another Once-The-Bombs-Land- Assad-Assassination Syrian-Leadership Vacuum - Nation Building Fiasco?
5
No fears. Putin will not let Donnie anywhere near Assad.
Vlad is working the strings.
Vlad is working the strings.
1
In regard to the Syrian missile strike - "Americans, who rightly are appalled by the images of dead children, applaud."
I guess had we been shown graphic images of the child victims in the Sandy Hook school shooting that the gun control response may have had a different outcome?
I guess had we been shown graphic images of the child victims in the Sandy Hook school shooting that the gun control response may have had a different outcome?
12
My thoughts exactly.
3
The fact that the chemical attack was televised necessitated a televised response. What is irrevocable is that Trump is now on the scoreboard and as such is established as the Anti-Obama. Quite likely Putin will rein Assad in as far as chemical weapons which he assumed responsibility to remove from Syria, and in the future Assad will restrict himself to barrel bombs which apparently do not have the negative impact optically on TV that chemical weapons do. And that will also go in the win column for Trump in the minds of feeble minded American voters.
4
President Obama fought hard to avoid getting involved in Syria. Like Iraq and Afghanistan, there will be no winners, just interminable conflict among factions. Trump's pointless, ineffective gesture will soon be forgotten, except that he can point to it as evidence that he's not in Putin's pocket.
10
"evidence that he's not in Putin's pocket" is not so clear. Some of us suspect we're being played.
3
It's a slippery slope just to gain a boost in approval ratings and distract the public and others from all of the other quagmires of this presidency. We are heading into dangerous territory.
4
You are so right! I can't believe we condemn the gas attacks and condone the one we believe launched the attacks? It should haven been our clue --- no man's land.
An irritating stack of aphorisms and axioms of heavy, heavy doctrinal baggage, but still an indisputable general thrust. It's too bad this argument was built this way, one tier of stuffing after another, because it reflects the low standard the GOP has set for so long, on the dilemma of military power.
I disagreed with Hillary Clinton on this as well. I see going into Syria with military force is playing right into Islamic States hands. If Assad's lack of humanitarian feelings towards his own people horrifies us imagine what they will do. Obama seemed to be playing a long term strategy on a global chess board. Trump is not capable intellectually to continue that and he and his rich buddies are driven by greed. Prince and his former Blackwater arms and death machine are already in position. Robert Mercer is in place too with his beliefs that nuclear war would be good for the planet.
And here we go again. After each fiasco, we say never again but memories are short and after a few years, it's easy to lead the people down the rabbit hole again. Once again, it has nothing to do with our security. We haven't been attacked. This is all about making Trump look presidential which is a very difficult task but the generals always have the answer for that.
1
War- IS Weaponized Politics; it's politic's *Strong-Arm* . The only difference in this administration's usage- is its ineptitude.
trump sees it on Fox, trump is effected, trump launches missiles which change nothing. The fact that 100,000 children have died before this incident, escapes him. In terms of the military, they will always suggest a measured response. They don't really want to test those weapons we spent a lot of money to purchase, against a foe with similar technology. They don't mind however, beating up someone without that technology, such as Granada, Iraq and now Syria.
3
Trump has portrayed himself as having a bromance with Putin even encouraging him to hack Clinton's e-mails.
The man has gone out of way never to criticize the dictator. Only his primary source of authoritative information, Fox News, has shown that kind of unfaltering fealty to him.
Now that whoever had his ear last convinced him to attack his buddy's ally under the hypocritical guise of humanitarian intervention, should we hope that Putin will choose to retaliate, not by saber rattling, but in a way that would damage his now supposed adversary the most and taketh away what he helped giveth?
A neat package of irrefutable proof that Trump was complicit with Russia's illegal interference in the American election to favor him delivered to Wikileaks would do it.
The man has gone out of way never to criticize the dictator. Only his primary source of authoritative information, Fox News, has shown that kind of unfaltering fealty to him.
Now that whoever had his ear last convinced him to attack his buddy's ally under the hypocritical guise of humanitarian intervention, should we hope that Putin will choose to retaliate, not by saber rattling, but in a way that would damage his now supposed adversary the most and taketh away what he helped giveth?
A neat package of irrefutable proof that Trump was complicit with Russia's illegal interference in the American election to favor him delivered to Wikileaks would do it.
2
The Trump team's flirtation with boys' toys is strictly a "look, squirrel!" distraction from the investigations into the team's deep and frightening Russia connections now and during the election.
8
What worries me is that Trump can't think through his decisions, the implications for the future, the next steps, the scenarios. And this is a vey complicated area of the world. (Who knew!) Improvising seems to be his strong suit. Not a good sign.
4
This is nothing more than a joke. Those missiles are nothing more than just another show of bluster and bravado from Donald Trump, who is still treating this presidency like another Reality Show, when the reality is bombing a few empty aircraft shelters isn't going to make the least difference in stopping, or deterring Bashar al-Assad, ISIS...or evn Vladimir Putin.
This has nothing to do with making America great.
And Americans have been duped again.
This has nothing to do with making America great.
And Americans have been duped again.
2
"We have always been at war against East Asia."
It seems that Donald Trump is picking right up where George Bush left off, indulging and enabling the Washington political, military and media establishment in their endless, self-enriching campaign for permanent war.
We no longer have the skeptical "wet blanket" that we once had in Barack Obama against the insidious influence of the military-industrial, war-machine complex.
In a recent interview with the Atlantic Monthly, Obama mocked the national security establishment by joking about the mandatory Washington "handbook" that dictated a military response to virtually every crisis situation.
I fear that we are headed back to the permanent war footing that Orwell warned us about in "1984". God help our country.
It seems that Donald Trump is picking right up where George Bush left off, indulging and enabling the Washington political, military and media establishment in their endless, self-enriching campaign for permanent war.
We no longer have the skeptical "wet blanket" that we once had in Barack Obama against the insidious influence of the military-industrial, war-machine complex.
In a recent interview with the Atlantic Monthly, Obama mocked the national security establishment by joking about the mandatory Washington "handbook" that dictated a military response to virtually every crisis situation.
I fear that we are headed back to the permanent war footing that Orwell warned us about in "1984". God help our country.
2
There have been calls for trump to allow in Syrian refugees since this attack. But with trump in power, why would anyone Muslim even want to come here when Canada welcomes them with open arms?
The public has lost all faith in their representatives and the media. We are being fed fiction while we try to pin the evil that has taken place on the wrong parties in order to cover the regime change gone wrong. An understanding of the situation in Syria starts with a reading of the Clean Break in the archives of Wikipedia.
1
If Trump was serious, he would have bombed Damascus, Assad's palace. Trump isn't serious, except for distractions and chaos. It allows him to manage the show, and be in control, be powerful and enviable in his mind.
Now that he has tasted military power, I predict he will use it to bully North Korea, and strengthen his negotiating posture with China.
Now that he has tasted military power, I predict he will use it to bully North Korea, and strengthen his negotiating posture with China.
Starting conflict which they know not how to end would appear to be a hallmark of 21st century Republican presidential administrations and their neo-con lap dogs.
1
45 and his much loved club of generals missed an opportunity to do some real good in this world. If they wanted to violate the boundaries of a sovereign nation to send a message, they could've used US military power to provide cover so that much needed humanitarian aid would be able to get to the Syrian people. No doubt a more dangerous mission than warning the enemy before firing bombs at an empty airfield from miles away (let's not overlook that people were killed in the bombing.) But no, the Syrian people continue to be starved of hope and the airfield is operational again in less than 24 hours; foolish, tragic, and yes impulsive decision by the club with implications far beyond the 9th hole at Mar-a-Lago.
Also Charles, it's an oxymoron to use "intuitive" to describe the fantasy thought processes of 45. It implies the ability to reflect on knowledge which we agree is not part of his expertise.
Also Charles, it's an oxymoron to use "intuitive" to describe the fantasy thought processes of 45. It implies the ability to reflect on knowledge which we agree is not part of his expertise.
1
Great article! I agree with Blow, I don't for a second believe that Trump or his minions care about the Syrians or the American people for that matter. All Trump cares about are his poll numbers and finding ways to distract people from the Russian debacle. This is why you need a government you trust. You need to believe the people in the White House care more about the country than their popularity, their pocket books, and their next election. You also need to trust that the people in the White House are smart enough to come up with real solutions to complex challenges. People can't trust Trump to take us to war because his motives would be suspect and he would have no clue what to do with such a complex no-win situation.
5
War (declared and undeclared) has always been a political weapon, just look back through history.
In this case, political generally means economic or religious. It' usually sold to it's fighters under Jingoistic banners. While the heads of state or large businesses benefit, it's usually the young 20 year old members of the military and the innocent citizen victims who suffer.
In this case, political generally means economic or religious. It' usually sold to it's fighters under Jingoistic banners. While the heads of state or large businesses benefit, it's usually the young 20 year old members of the military and the innocent citizen victims who suffer.
30
So weary of political hypocrisy in the post-truth age. The same republicans who cheer trump blocked obama taking action four years ago, when there were 10 times as many gassed victims, many more beautiful babies among the dead.
The same republicans who applaud trump's acting without congress still accuse obama, who tried to build a coalition, of leading from behind. It was obamas plans they presented to trump, after simplifying the options into words he could understand.
I've calmed down now, but Thursday night, trump doing a 180 on Syria and suddenly discovering he could play with missiles and benefit, seemed to foreshadow the nightmare we all fear.
The same republicans who applaud trump's acting without congress still accuse obama, who tried to build a coalition, of leading from behind. It was obamas plans they presented to trump, after simplifying the options into words he could understand.
I've calmed down now, but Thursday night, trump doing a 180 on Syria and suddenly discovering he could play with missiles and benefit, seemed to foreshadow the nightmare we all fear.
153
Don't forget the whole Carlyle Group angle! War makes a lot of money for the 1%, whose kids never fight.
3
In that moment, today's GOP would have denied the below-surface size of icebergs and practiced any hypocrisy necessary to seize control of the Titanic, and then assuredly done nothing about the hole in its hull, trusting smooth inertia to somehow keep it afloat.
1
Trump took action, unlike his weak predecessor.
3
M...too bad he won't let Syrians in the country.
1
Trump is a fool who barges in where angels fear to tread, with no follow-up plan. But it nicely distracted from not only the Russian investigation and Gorsuch confirmation, but also from the most recent lackluster jobs report. Trump cannot blame that jobs report on Obama anymore, after he took credit for earlier great reports... And where are his tax returns, by the way?
1
His predecessor was too smart to drag us into regime change operations started by our so-called allies. But the media offensive on Trump cornered him.
Seen any Trump-Russia connection stories in the last 4 days? Nope.
Seen any Trump-Russia connection stories in the last 4 days? Nope.
3
This is why any act of war, regardless of the pretext, must be approved by Congress and this is why our Republican Congress needs to do it's job and stop being Donald Trumps protector.
1
The model here that should be referenced is the containment of Iraq under HW Bush I and Clinton: no fly zone and economic and political sanctions. Destroy the entire Assad air fleet and keep the pressure in concert with a coalition of neighboring nations. It's a low grade, drawn out affair and probably more risky than Iraq was due to an emboldened Russia, but it is a feasible solution to try to minimize the atrocities without wading in with an invasion.
It pays to remember that HW Bush was the former head of the CIA and held back following the first gulf war due to a nuanced reading of the overall risks in the region. Would that his son had been as smart and as prudent.
I guess that it is useless to hope that Trump will read or even care about that history. I worry that the applause will lead him to choose more war to help bolster his flagging sense of success.
It pays to remember that HW Bush was the former head of the CIA and held back following the first gulf war due to a nuanced reading of the overall risks in the region. Would that his son had been as smart and as prudent.
I guess that it is useless to hope that Trump will read or even care about that history. I worry that the applause will lead him to choose more war to help bolster his flagging sense of success.
Trump's sprint to war in response to the quick, visible deaths of Syrian babies contrasts sharply with his immobility in response to the glacial pace of death and destruction within the U.S. resulting from his dismantling of climate protections. At the end of all, the people who die as a direct consequence of his occupancy of the White House will span all ages, ethnicities, and nations.
If the so-called president is disturbed and discomfited by the image of less than 100 Syrians killed by gas, why is he indifferent to the nearly 500,000 killed by other means?
2
Perhaps you should ask that question of Obama, After all it was Obama's feckless Syria policies are responsible for those deaths.
1
Trump attributed his sudden change of heart regarding Syria to the impact of images of the poisoned children in that country. How is it that a man who has shown himself to be merciless and, some say, totally incapable of empathy could have acted out of moral indignation and pain for others' suffering? Could his stance have anything to do, consciously or unconsciously, with undermining claims that, for some as yet unknown reason, he is Putin's puppet and soft on Russia?
1
Aside from motives and consequences is anyone thinking about the total lack of effectiveness? $60 MILLION to shut down an airfield for 1 day (maybe) and kill 9 relatively innocent people? Wasn't there a better target for our vaunted military might?
"Donald Trump has turned his back on pretty much everything he has ever said about United States military involvement in Syria"
Yeah, he did some of what Hillary said she'd do, and the commentariat loves it. The "experts" of DC and NYC want war. Give them a taste, and they're like addicts getting a fix.
Sorry, but Trump is not the problem in this, for giving in a bit to the problem that is all you blood thirsty critics.
Yeah, he did some of what Hillary said she'd do, and the commentariat loves it. The "experts" of DC and NYC want war. Give them a taste, and they're like addicts getting a fix.
Sorry, but Trump is not the problem in this, for giving in a bit to the problem that is all you blood thirsty critics.
4
Yes, Mr. Blow, we have indeed been down this road before...many times in my lifetime. I am disheartened by how easily the general public is misled by actions such as these. Stepping back, in the cold light of day, we must ask ourselves "What have we truly accomplished"? The base is still operational, no sarin gas was destroyed and people are still dying in Syria. The Russians are up in arms in a country where our two militaries are side-by-side and eyeball to eyeball. Both countries are led by leaders who look to aggressive actions to maintain their popularity. This strike, besides being ineffective, has introduced a new dimension to the Middle East cauldron. Testosterone-driven men are waving the flag without engaging their brains. As you point out...how you die is less important than the fact that you are dead none-the-less. We cannot let this obvious political theatre distract us from the Trump administrations collusion with the Russians during the election. The MSM must do its part and not fall into the trap that led to this last election.
4
DT does nothing unless it promotes and helps DT- including the bombing of Syria.
DR couldn't care less about Syrian children. He bombed to look strong by taking military action- without getting Congressional approval. He bombed to change the conversation.
Guess what- no one is talking about collusion with Russia to affect the 2016 election.
I am in dismay that DT gets rewarded by using military might. He will make a habit of it- but it is not his family going to war and getting killed or maimed.
DR couldn't care less about Syrian children. He bombed to look strong by taking military action- without getting Congressional approval. He bombed to change the conversation.
Guess what- no one is talking about collusion with Russia to affect the 2016 election.
I am in dismay that DT gets rewarded by using military might. He will make a habit of it- but it is not his family going to war and getting killed or maimed.
4
Yes we've been down this road before Mr. Blow. But not with a government in so much chaos and disorganization. Bomb Syria with supposed outrage but do not allow Syrians to immigrate to the USA. Very well thought out?
2
The US already does not have enough jobs for all of the American citizens who want one, but the government worshiping "progressives" continue to call for open borders and more Islamic "refugees" who will never assimilate to US culture and will demand that we impose their obscene Shira Law on all "infidels".
Superb column, Mr. Blow. So many people forget that our elected officials pick and choose very few of the enormous numbers of atrocities that go on in the world that we get involved in. That itself is a questionable morality. There is also little evidence that we actually alleviate much suffering in this way.
Obama was not weak but wise to to not get involved too much in Syria. Both ISIS and Assad are awful. In fighting one you help the other. The best we can do is give humanitarian aid and refuge to the citizens of Syria-- something Trump is very much against.
Trump has fired off bunches of missiles for what questionable end, exactly? Trump thinks he is going to cow Assad, especially when Assad has Putin's support? Even more depressing is that so many in this country have so quickly forgotten the lessons learned from Vietnam and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We all hate what Assad did, but as we start this war we should realize we will kill far, far more of the very people we imagine we are helping and they will surely hate us by the end.
What would we think if Germany fired missiles on one of our airbases because we still execute criminals and Guantanamo is still open? If we are going to pretend we have some moral authority we should clean our own house first. It is not some "right" we have as Americans to, especially with bombs, try to discipline other nations.
Obama was not weak but wise to to not get involved too much in Syria. Both ISIS and Assad are awful. In fighting one you help the other. The best we can do is give humanitarian aid and refuge to the citizens of Syria-- something Trump is very much against.
Trump has fired off bunches of missiles for what questionable end, exactly? Trump thinks he is going to cow Assad, especially when Assad has Putin's support? Even more depressing is that so many in this country have so quickly forgotten the lessons learned from Vietnam and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We all hate what Assad did, but as we start this war we should realize we will kill far, far more of the very people we imagine we are helping and they will surely hate us by the end.
What would we think if Germany fired missiles on one of our airbases because we still execute criminals and Guantanamo is still open? If we are going to pretend we have some moral authority we should clean our own house first. It is not some "right" we have as Americans to, especially with bombs, try to discipline other nations.
3
I hope the producers and writers at the TV news channels read your column, Mr. Blow. Once again, I have had to stop listening to their commentary, because they are trumpeting the 45th president's battle cries for him.
The greatest hypocrisy of all is for Trump to say that "no child of God" should have to suffer such horrors, while at the same time he works to ban Syrian refugees from our shores. Does Fox and Friends not show the photos of shocked Syrian children, bloodied and caked with bomb blast?
The greatest hypocrisy of all is for Trump to say that "no child of God" should have to suffer such horrors, while at the same time he works to ban Syrian refugees from our shores. Does Fox and Friends not show the photos of shocked Syrian children, bloodied and caked with bomb blast?
4
Excellent column as usual Mr. Blow. We have certainly "been down this road before" and so far somehow survived "hill(s) steep and greased with political motives, military ambitions, American blood and squandered treasury" But we are already teetering on the edge of a cliff above an abyss, placed there by 77,000 gullible dopes in 3 states who may indeed find jobs -- in a military expansion the lights of which has not been seen since Viet Nam. And we all know how well that turned out.
3
So, if the Russians did not want the US to bomb the Syrians, why not stop them from doing so - it seems the Russians had advance notice and defensive equipment - rather than making threats later?
Because Trump obviously indicated that he needed to distract the US public, and not to worry, the attack will be harmless. The airfield was up and running in two days.
1
The missile strike was a cynical combination of political theater and a welfare handouts to the military industrial complex. Query: Given our direct role in causing the starvation in Yemen, would a third country be within its rights to hit one of our airfields with missiles?
3
A marginal Secretary of State, an eviscerated State Department, a mole president. John Dean says this will end in calamity. He may be right.
2
The one-off bombing is symptomatic. Trump is practicing governance improv. The result is US foreign and domestic policy reduced to a nasty man playing whack-a-mole.
2
Charles Blow's column should be mandatory reading for anyone applauding Trump's decision to bomb an airstripe in Syria in response to Syria's horrific use of deadly chemical weapons on its own people. It is understandably difficult to be critical of a response to an act of such cruelty and destruction. But doing so without a policy in place for our actions or further involvement is shortsighted and dangerous. The Congress must insist that the Trump administration lay out in detail its plan for future responses in Syria, in particular, and elsewhere as may arise. It shirked this responsibility in 2013, but it cannot continue to do so at this time with tensions mounting in North Korea, and in the Middle East.
2
It's time to dismantle the military-industrial complex. Men like Trump and Bannon, most of the military and most of the American right wing, Putin as well, are following 20th century constructs in a 21st century world. America is being left behind and slipping into irrelevance. Most the world's population sees through American hype. They understand our commitments are shallow and are values empty. The election of Trump finally snuffed out the light of American liberty. If anything, America now resembles post-war Britain, that still had pretensions to empire, but was in fact a toothless old lion.
The American Century has past.
The American Century has past.
2
Trump supporters, please reconcile your support of Trump's bombing of Syria for killing "beautiful babies" with his ban on those same babies entering the US.
3
The US impotent (but costly) missile response in Syria has little to to with mitigating Assad's menace...and everything to do with Trump playing war games & polishing his delusional idea of Commander in Chief.
Those who would be lulled into giving him Brownie points are assuaging their own shock at the heart rending war pictures...Sorry-but Trump's actions are ALL ABOUT his own resurrection and the manipulation of optics...his sole expertise.
Those who would be lulled into giving him Brownie points are assuaging their own shock at the heart rending war pictures...Sorry-but Trump's actions are ALL ABOUT his own resurrection and the manipulation of optics...his sole expertise.
2
It's terrible to see innocent people killed anywhere in the world. When Trump talks about the "beautiful babies," I think about the Syrian children but I also think about the little kindergarten kids at Sandy Hook. Whenever there is a mass killing in the United States, we're told all we can do is pray, followed by states making it easier to buy guns.
Why is so little effort put out to end the terrorism that happens on a daily basis in America? Why are we always told all we can do is pray?
Why is so little effort put out to end the terrorism that happens on a daily basis in America? Why are we always told all we can do is pray?
5
We had sustained peace during the Eisenhower administration.A 5 star General who led the Allies to victory on the Western Front.Here was a man who’s entire life evolved around the Military & Warfare. It seems a contradiction of sorts, Bush who was a Draft Dodger, and never experienced combat along with his chief Advisor, Cheney, who loved torture, were all about patriotism, & thrust us into a wasteful war that we have never recovered from. Trump in his quest to circumvent Russia-Gate , had tried everything to change the subject from Obama Wire Taps to Susan Rice.He finally took control of the Media by the magnificent display of American technology, by firing Missiles at a deserted Airfield.After 8 years of reluctant confrontation by Obama, we have a leader that shoots from the hip.The Mucho Scale in the US rose to 100%, as High as Teddy Roosevelt & the Rough Riders, or Patton’s slapping of a Soldier with Battle Fatigue.Yes, theres nothing like a call to colors to take ones mind off our incompetent political leadership, or the lack of jobs, & a decline of the economy, that is sure to come with Trumps trickle,down economy. The problem with the drums of War, it’s addicting & you just can’t get enough.
3
An interesting article. Does it apply equally to President Obama who used drones to kill thousands of people?
2
Dear Steven,
Not really, as the drone strikes were uniformly aimed at terrorists specifically. They did not always hit the right target, and had collateral damage, and Pres. Obama can be blamed for that. But they were not grandstanding and useless attempts to deflect attention from treasonous collusion with Russia.
Not really, as the drone strikes were uniformly aimed at terrorists specifically. They did not always hit the right target, and had collateral damage, and Pres. Obama can be blamed for that. But they were not grandstanding and useless attempts to deflect attention from treasonous collusion with Russia.
I do not think that most American people will be duped by the smoke and mirrors of this horrid administration. The Russians, warned that missies will be forthcoming, in turn got the airbase cleared out of their Syrian counterparts. Trump informed Russian but didn't inform congress. Everyone needs to keep their "eye on the ball", and never forget that the biggest con man in history colluded with a foreign, adversarial government to steal an election. He is an illegitimate fraud.
2
Thank you for intelligent reasoning. The really hard things are diplomacy and negotiations. It is simply too easy to just say, "bombs away."
In the meantime, the international arms fairs go on, with attendance each year at higher and higher numbers, countries and their representatives lining up to buy the latest lethal weapons with which to threaten and eliminate real and perceived enemies.
It would behoove Mr. Trump to read a little history about the difficult situation in the Middle East before he goes shooting off more missiles.
In the meantime, the international arms fairs go on, with attendance each year at higher and higher numbers, countries and their representatives lining up to buy the latest lethal weapons with which to threaten and eliminate real and perceived enemies.
It would behoove Mr. Trump to read a little history about the difficult situation in the Middle East before he goes shooting off more missiles.
1
Seems like the best thing we can do for Syria is to help the innocent refugees, fleeing from the horror there.
Oh, right. We aren't even doing that.
Oh, right. We aren't even doing that.
4
ISIS is a merciless Sunni resistance movement inspired, in part, by the US invasion of Iraq. Our military (ignoring State Department warnings) overthrew Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, and disbanded the security forces that dictator, Saddam, had established. Chaos followed. The US then helped install a government run by Shiites, representing the majority of people in the country. That government blocked Sunnis from all power. Hence: ISIS. The insurgents. The rebels.
Syria is the reverse mirror image of Iraq. There the bloody dictator is a Shiite, Assad, who rules over a country that's predominantly Sunni ... a country that he has now almost completely destroyed. Iran, Assad's ally, which supplies weaponry and soldiers to support Assad, is mostly Shia.
Result? If America helps attack Assad in order to defend the rebels in Syria, we would be indirectly aiding ISIS.
The Middle East, like national healthcare, is complicated. Has anybody told this to Donald Trump?
Syria is the reverse mirror image of Iraq. There the bloody dictator is a Shiite, Assad, who rules over a country that's predominantly Sunni ... a country that he has now almost completely destroyed. Iran, Assad's ally, which supplies weaponry and soldiers to support Assad, is mostly Shia.
Result? If America helps attack Assad in order to defend the rebels in Syria, we would be indirectly aiding ISIS.
The Middle East, like national healthcare, is complicated. Has anybody told this to Donald Trump?
1
"He gassed his own people." We've heard this one before.
4
While many liberals suddenly almost cheer for Trump because he bombed Assad, at least Charles Blow shows some prudence. Damaging Assad at this point really serves no purpose other than indirectly propping up his enemies which in the best case just prolongs the civil war even further and in the worst case will replace Assad with something much worse.
Interestingly, commentators on the right wing (Breitbart etc) are not at all happy with Trump's actions, no rally effect there. The left seems to be more trigger-happy than the right these days.
Interestingly, commentators on the right wing (Breitbart etc) are not at all happy with Trump's actions, no rally effect there. The left seems to be more trigger-happy than the right these days.
2
Obama promised us that crossing the red line would lead to consequences : it didn't. My opinionis he didnt want to offend syria's iranian partners trying to make a nuclear deal.
Which makes you wonder. In the past nonproliferation meant limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. Period. The Obama deal just means they will have to wait ten years to announce what they are developing behind closed doors. Will the Iranian leadership be less toxic in ten years?
Which makes you wonder. In the past nonproliferation meant limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. Period. The Obama deal just means they will have to wait ten years to announce what they are developing behind closed doors. Will the Iranian leadership be less toxic in ten years?
2
This may appear to be a harsh assessment of Trump's $60 million fiasco to the 89 men, women and children killed by the chemical attack but where was his compassion and his Republican counter parts who are salivating at the prospect of another war when they proposed a bill leaving 24,000,000 Americans without health care? Mr. Blow thank you for writing an apt discription of the turn of events. It deflected from the Trump and company's ties to Russia, that warped investigation, , Xi's summit held at Trump hotel, Governor Walker's eagerness to give Alaska's resources to Xi on his layover back to China and most likely executive orders Trump snuck in over the weekend. What's next? Tillerson held hostage by Putin or Putin threatens nuclear war unless the sanctions are lifted? Exxon can return to pre sanction business, Trump kids can build hotels and market brand and all the oligarchs in Russia and the US live happily ever after?
I trust this bum in the White House and his coterie of generals about as far as I can push a Bradley.
4
". . . and the war hawks — many beholden to the military-industrial complex — squawk and parade about with chests swollen." The war hawks? That would be every newscaster and even the New York Times which not so long ago showed us it understood that our President is a pathological liar. Put up some pyrotechnics on the television screen in every home in America and all of a sudden they believe him when he says he was horrified by the gas attack on children.
Most Americans were horrified but there is no evidence, except his totally untrustworthy assertion, that he has the capacity to be horrified by anyone's suffering but his own. He was not horrified by the image of a dead child washed up on a beach. He was not horrified by hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing their war torn country. He has expressed not one whit of sympathy for the millions of children starving in the famines of Sudan and Yemen.
Why did the headline report the fake news coming out of the White House? Why not what we actually know: Trump SAYS he was horrified? What headline writer at the New York Times can read this man's mind to know to any degree of certainty at all that he could possibly be moved by suffering children when the evidence against such a possibility is overwhelming?
Back to the drawing board, Mr. Baquet. We thought you had it right. Alas, swollen chests abound.
Most Americans were horrified but there is no evidence, except his totally untrustworthy assertion, that he has the capacity to be horrified by anyone's suffering but his own. He was not horrified by the image of a dead child washed up on a beach. He was not horrified by hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing their war torn country. He has expressed not one whit of sympathy for the millions of children starving in the famines of Sudan and Yemen.
Why did the headline report the fake news coming out of the White House? Why not what we actually know: Trump SAYS he was horrified? What headline writer at the New York Times can read this man's mind to know to any degree of certainty at all that he could possibly be moved by suffering children when the evidence against such a possibility is overwhelming?
Back to the drawing board, Mr. Baquet. We thought you had it right. Alas, swollen chests abound.
"...a near decade-long war..."? An open-ended series of wars, more like, now going on 15!
Interesting column, have to digest it for awhile.
But the PRACTICAL problem in ending the Greater Syrian and Mesopotamian wars today is that there are three national leaders ordering them up, who "...have to go."
It is no one's designated job to make them go, especially not the U.S.'s, a country which very recently accomplished similar illegal invasions based on false pretences, committed their share of international prevarication and war crimes, and even the odd crime against humanity.
You can't say it's the job of a thoroughly carbonised pot to put a black kettle out of business. Sorry, it's too late for that.
This is a main reason why the three-aforementioned nations, their increasingly megalomaniacal, murderous dictators (who HAVE to go, before anything gets solved), AND the United States are all tempted to renew with "cold war" memes.
Retreating to cold war stances will at least enable them to 'prolong the avoidance of their inevitably having to go': they can rely on proxies to fight, consume costly weaponry, and die for them.
Even an IT guy can tell you, "Hide behind a proxy!"
The three leaders are Bashar al-Assad, a useless piece of toxic trash, Vladimir Putin (you could look him up!) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a madman swinging between false piety and opiate Ottoman "memories" to cement his power.
They have to go. Nobody's job to make them go. Sure not Trump's!
Interesting column, have to digest it for awhile.
But the PRACTICAL problem in ending the Greater Syrian and Mesopotamian wars today is that there are three national leaders ordering them up, who "...have to go."
It is no one's designated job to make them go, especially not the U.S.'s, a country which very recently accomplished similar illegal invasions based on false pretences, committed their share of international prevarication and war crimes, and even the odd crime against humanity.
You can't say it's the job of a thoroughly carbonised pot to put a black kettle out of business. Sorry, it's too late for that.
This is a main reason why the three-aforementioned nations, their increasingly megalomaniacal, murderous dictators (who HAVE to go, before anything gets solved), AND the United States are all tempted to renew with "cold war" memes.
Retreating to cold war stances will at least enable them to 'prolong the avoidance of their inevitably having to go': they can rely on proxies to fight, consume costly weaponry, and die for them.
Even an IT guy can tell you, "Hide behind a proxy!"
The three leaders are Bashar al-Assad, a useless piece of toxic trash, Vladimir Putin (you could look him up!) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a madman swinging between false piety and opiate Ottoman "memories" to cement his power.
They have to go. Nobody's job to make them go. Sure not Trump's!
Mr. Blow - I am 62 years old. In my 62 years of living I have found that war is the only thing this country knows how to do. Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. Like George Carlin once said "We like our wars. We're a war-like people."
98
If TrumpCo. colluded with Russia to throw the election to Trump, is it really that far fetched to believe that Trump colluded with Putin to create a major distraction and make it appear that Trump and Russia are not in bed together? Trump's tactics to thwart the investigations were growing ever more desperate and bizarre, i.e.: the Nunes episode. And what have we read and seen about the investigations since the Syrian attacks? Nothing. But we have heard people Trump shot in the air in Syria was proof that he is willing to challenge Putin.
I'm not buying it.
I'm not buying it.
1
The fact is, had Trump not bombed that airfield, Mr. Blow and his fellow Trump haters in the Press would be have been writing Op-Ed after Op-Ed about how uncaring, feckless, weak Trump was for not taking any action after Assad gassed his own people once again.
And true to form, nothing Trump can do is ever going to be good enough.
So even if Democrats may give Trump some kudos on the attack on the Syrian airfield, it is qualified with all sorts of insane Asterisks by the Leftist press * such as Mr. Blow here "Not to be indelicate here, but atrocities happen in the world all the time" suggesting that Trump must now be taking military action in response to every atrocity anywhere in the world.
or on MSNBC last week who suggested that Putin colluded with Trump to gas the Syrian people to distract from the Russian congressional investigations.
Because writers like Mr. Blow hate Trump 100% of the time no matter what he does, those writers lose their ability to persuade anyone to move from the opinions they already hold. Mr. Blow and his fellow liberal pundits hatred of Mr. Trump have rendered them impotent to impact the narrative or even be a relevant part of the conversation
And true to form, nothing Trump can do is ever going to be good enough.
So even if Democrats may give Trump some kudos on the attack on the Syrian airfield, it is qualified with all sorts of insane Asterisks by the Leftist press * such as Mr. Blow here "Not to be indelicate here, but atrocities happen in the world all the time" suggesting that Trump must now be taking military action in response to every atrocity anywhere in the world.
or on MSNBC last week who suggested that Putin colluded with Trump to gas the Syrian people to distract from the Russian congressional investigations.
Because writers like Mr. Blow hate Trump 100% of the time no matter what he does, those writers lose their ability to persuade anyone to move from the opinions they already hold. Mr. Blow and his fellow liberal pundits hatred of Mr. Trump have rendered them impotent to impact the narrative or even be a relevant part of the conversation
4
Did you talk to Tom Friedman and nick kristof yet? They are the widely traveled nyt columnists who supposedly know the world inside out, and if they had their way , America would be forever engaged involved and immersed in solving the world's man made problems, poverty, hunger, famine, starvation, genocides, holocausts, civil wars, ethnic cleansing, political games, assasinations of unpleasant characters who stand in the way of American vision, dreams, objectives. Now with trump the added mission is to rid America of all non white non Christians, preferably keep them all male except when they look like an Eastern European model.
1
The attack from start to finish was orchestrated by Putin, master of both Assad and Trump. Realizing his investment in Trump's election in jeopardy as various investigations into the election creep closer and closer to Trump himself, the KGB master put together a multi-step plan. Putin either asked or told Assad to launch his chemical weapons, which allowed Trump to rush in with his 59 missiles, and Putin to respond with phony outrage. The end results:
1. Trump looks heroic
2. Trump's poll number rise
3. Trump-Russia investigation off the front page
4. Putin-Trump lovefest now in question
5. Eighty-seven Syrians lose their lives (a/k/a collateral damage)
Evil and brilliant...Vladimir Putin.
1. Trump looks heroic
2. Trump's poll number rise
3. Trump-Russia investigation off the front page
4. Putin-Trump lovefest now in question
5. Eighty-seven Syrians lose their lives (a/k/a collateral damage)
Evil and brilliant...Vladimir Putin.
3
Wow Mr. Blow - you write with such clarity about what I feel and think about this absurd bombing escapade. Thank you.
4
Thank you again Mr. Blow... though this time you missed one important issue:
The embarrassing, shameful way in which the general media ("left" leaning included) rallied around this stupid display of macho tactics, mixed with pure political convenience, and sang its praises.
Only a few mounting voices are calling this disgraceful band out.
The dumbing down of America and the world is working just fine.
The embarrassing, shameful way in which the general media ("left" leaning included) rallied around this stupid display of macho tactics, mixed with pure political convenience, and sang its praises.
Only a few mounting voices are calling this disgraceful band out.
The dumbing down of America and the world is working just fine.
3
I find it hard to imagine that intelligent people can actually that Donald Trump was moved to outrage and compassion on seeing the horrific photos of gassed babies, thereby acting on emotional impulse Where was this empathy and outrage in 2013, when he coolly tweeted that Obama couldn't attack without the permission of Congress? Where is it for the surviving Syrian babies denied refuge in the USAby Trump's executive order? Or for the starving Sudanese babies, for whom he has not revised his lowered budget for humanitarian aid? Give me a break! When has Trump ever shown empathy for anyone but himself, himself and his family? I agree with Chris Mathews that this attack was a political calculation to to distract from his ongoing failures and problems- investigations, health care disaster,etc. - plummeting popularity ratings, and a way of cynically "disproving" his collusion with Putin.
What's more, his speech on his outrage and sadness was delivered with the hollowness and lack of feeling of a bad high school actor. It floors me that people can be so tone deaf.
Btw, in the last paragraph did you mean "weary"!or "wary", Charles? Or both
Kate Seley Madrid
What's more, his speech on his outrage and sadness was delivered with the hollowness and lack of feeling of a bad high school actor. It floors me that people can be so tone deaf.
Btw, in the last paragraph did you mean "weary"!or "wary", Charles? Or both
Kate Seley Madrid
8
American interventionism plants the seeds of future atrocities it would ostensibly oppose, builds them up to shoot them down, like deposing democracy of Iran's Mossadegh only to get a half century of hostile mullahs, backing Saddam, Fascist genocidal dictators from Latin America to Indonesia, Pinochet to Suharto, unending inevitable blowback from its misguided Middle East misadventures, etc.
Pumping stock price of military-industrial manufacturers is the real patriotic justification for blowing ordinance, Raytheon shareholders will no doubt celebrate blasting as many Tomahawks as possible, the domestic jobs program for corrupt corporate welfare queens.
The litany of likely ulterior motives in this Syria horror are so nested it begs for definitive evidence of exactly who committed this atrocity & why.
Pumping stock price of military-industrial manufacturers is the real patriotic justification for blowing ordinance, Raytheon shareholders will no doubt celebrate blasting as many Tomahawks as possible, the domestic jobs program for corrupt corporate welfare queens.
The litany of likely ulterior motives in this Syria horror are so nested it begs for definitive evidence of exactly who committed this atrocity & why.
2
To quote a commenter on another related article "elect a clown, expect a circus." This man is a clown. An amateur. I could do a better job as president if only for the fact that I'm a curious person. Millions of Americans are also similarly qualified over this complete buffoon. It's as if his supporters elected a malevolent version Chauncey Gardiner from "Being There"...a dark canvas for the many bigoted and bitter people to project their tiny dreams of scorn onto. And please, no matter the reason, we need to keep this guy far away from all missiles.
4
Important, no, essential observations, very eloquently put.
I am truly fed up with all the ridiculous jibes at Obama, the chattering over his supposed indecisive action in 2013! I am wondering if these so-called objective, informed reporters are actually only pretending that they dont
remember the scenario around Obamas measured and successful actions, or if they really did just blandly forgot.
All the second guessing by former Obama aides is ridiculous. too.
Another NYT columnist is complaining today that, as a rule, you cant make deals with dictators. Well, Obama showed that you can. How was he to know that, in four years, his very successful compromise would be sabotaged by a wildly incompetent secretary of state, and an utterly mentally unbalanced President. Obama spared the Syrian people 4 years of chemical weapons attacks, and allowed suffering Syrian refugees into the U.S.
I am truly fed up with all the ridiculous jibes at Obama, the chattering over his supposed indecisive action in 2013! I am wondering if these so-called objective, informed reporters are actually only pretending that they dont
remember the scenario around Obamas measured and successful actions, or if they really did just blandly forgot.
All the second guessing by former Obama aides is ridiculous. too.
Another NYT columnist is complaining today that, as a rule, you cant make deals with dictators. Well, Obama showed that you can. How was he to know that, in four years, his very successful compromise would be sabotaged by a wildly incompetent secretary of state, and an utterly mentally unbalanced President. Obama spared the Syrian people 4 years of chemical weapons attacks, and allowed suffering Syrian refugees into the U.S.
4
I couldn't agree more!
The irony is that Vladimir Putin, the masterful Svengali who brought down Hillary Clinton whom he hates, and raised up Donald Trump, who he believed he could manipulate, has just become Putin's "Unintended Consequence". Reliable Russophiles like Trump and Tillerson have, to survive in their offices, have had to turn on Russia's pet, Assad, and with it, Putin's own expansionism in the Middle East (an old Russian policy going back to the Soviets in the 60's propping up Nassar in Egypt).
Here again, the Maestro of the Kremlin screwed up (as did Assad). In that region, when anyone shows signs of reluctance or weakness the tendency is to push the boundaries until they break, whether it's Israel expanding settlements FAR beyond their legal limits, or Assad seeing if he could get away with using chemical weapons again. Putin should have stopped him, and, worse, should have done what he pledged and taken them away. Now Putin's revealed as either played or part of it (we KNOW he doesn't actually CARE about such things).
Putin's mistake is that his pressure on Trump and Tillerson is far more subtle than that of Congress and the Press. Trump was cornered with no good way out. Had he done nothing than his claims that Obama was "weak" fail. Bombing Syria shows he's always been a total hypocrite and is STILL acting globally. And NOW Putin's realizing that, unlike the highly predictable logical cool-headed Clinton, Trump is totally unpredictable & irrational.
The irony is that Vladimir Putin, the masterful Svengali who brought down Hillary Clinton whom he hates, and raised up Donald Trump, who he believed he could manipulate, has just become Putin's "Unintended Consequence". Reliable Russophiles like Trump and Tillerson have, to survive in their offices, have had to turn on Russia's pet, Assad, and with it, Putin's own expansionism in the Middle East (an old Russian policy going back to the Soviets in the 60's propping up Nassar in Egypt).
Here again, the Maestro of the Kremlin screwed up (as did Assad). In that region, when anyone shows signs of reluctance or weakness the tendency is to push the boundaries until they break, whether it's Israel expanding settlements FAR beyond their legal limits, or Assad seeing if he could get away with using chemical weapons again. Putin should have stopped him, and, worse, should have done what he pledged and taken them away. Now Putin's revealed as either played or part of it (we KNOW he doesn't actually CARE about such things).
Putin's mistake is that his pressure on Trump and Tillerson is far more subtle than that of Congress and the Press. Trump was cornered with no good way out. Had he done nothing than his claims that Obama was "weak" fail. Bombing Syria shows he's always been a total hypocrite and is STILL acting globally. And NOW Putin's realizing that, unlike the highly predictable logical cool-headed Clinton, Trump is totally unpredictable & irrational.
1
"We’ve been down this road before. Just over the horizon is a hill: Steep and greased with political motives, military ambitions, American blood and squandered treasury." America voted for this. Not the majority, which has become meaningless in our 18th century voting system, but by those Trump voters who will be disproportionately killed in the upcoming war. The Middle East gives the military-industrial complex and its facilitators in Congress and now the Executive Branch the ability to have all war all the time isolationism. Thanks angry white voters. Enjoy losing your lives and your sons and daughters.
4
While G.W. Bush was only absent without leave from his military duties during Vietnam, Trump was a draft dodger, apparently having other obligations including nursing his heal spur. G.W. wanted to be a "war president," so contrived a reason to go to war, a war in which we are still mired. Trump's rating in the pols are abysmal, thus his going to war with Syria. Both men will go down in history as not only failed presidents, but failed men who have gotten their way all their lives by flaunting power of riches and politics. Being a "war president" that had meaning ended with FDR, and perhaps Truman. If either of these men bothered to read history, they would know that.
2
I appreciate Charles M. Blow's wise words here. Wisdom is at a premium these days and I certainly do not expect to hear any of it from Washington D.C.
6
When Obama was President, Mr. Blow was praising him, first when he made his "red line" policy and then when he flip-flopped. War may or may not be a political weapon, but Mr. Blow's columns certainly are.
3
Trump's deep incompetence at least means (for the time being) that we're unlikely to start another war-for-a-lie like W's Iraq in 2003. The real danger to the US is if Trump manages to arrange, allow or encourage a huge terrorist attack on US soil, arranged abroad. That would be our burning of the Reichstag.
3
G.W. Bush with his Secretary of State Colin Powell's-powered lies to the UN about WMD led us into the two still ongoing wars in the Middle East - taking down Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and blundering into Afghanistan which depleted American treasure, blood and lives and all the collateral lives in both of those beknighted Muslim countries.
Now President Trump has launched a one-off attack on Syria - 59 Tomahawk missiles hit Bashar al-Assad's airbase from which the Sarin gas attack on his own people originated. Suddenly what Trump did is lauded by the Press, the media, social and otherwise, as the best thing since sliced bread, "In America's vital security interest to prevent the spread of deadly chemical weapons".
This Earth of ours is a cruel place of slow motion death and destruction of its inhabitants, and has been since Pangaea began. Guns are America's ubiquitous go-to handy weapons. Neglect, starvation, climate warming continue to kill human beings. Atrocities are common. Your metaphor that motivations for military action are multiple like Matryoshka nesting dolls is true. Selling heroism, hawking fear and bigotry fill the weapons-dealers' coffers, and we have no idea of the consequences of President Trump's foolhardy attack on Syria. Secretary of State Tillerson is entering Putin's den in Russia this week. Syria's geopolitical position is Russia's only hope for a port on the Mediterranean Sea. Unwinnable for Trump as Iraq and Afghanistan were for Bush II?
Now President Trump has launched a one-off attack on Syria - 59 Tomahawk missiles hit Bashar al-Assad's airbase from which the Sarin gas attack on his own people originated. Suddenly what Trump did is lauded by the Press, the media, social and otherwise, as the best thing since sliced bread, "In America's vital security interest to prevent the spread of deadly chemical weapons".
This Earth of ours is a cruel place of slow motion death and destruction of its inhabitants, and has been since Pangaea began. Guns are America's ubiquitous go-to handy weapons. Neglect, starvation, climate warming continue to kill human beings. Atrocities are common. Your metaphor that motivations for military action are multiple like Matryoshka nesting dolls is true. Selling heroism, hawking fear and bigotry fill the weapons-dealers' coffers, and we have no idea of the consequences of President Trump's foolhardy attack on Syria. Secretary of State Tillerson is entering Putin's den in Russia this week. Syria's geopolitical position is Russia's only hope for a port on the Mediterranean Sea. Unwinnable for Trump as Iraq and Afghanistan were for Bush II?
7
Trump seems prone to kick every beehive he encounters.
1
Like Obama, Blow overthinks it.
Trump's cruise missile strikes were a quick slap to let the Syrian regime (and others) know that further chemical weapons use will not be tolerated.
No one thinks these strikes will have an impact on the overall struggle in Syria. They do send a message that the use of chemical weapons might prompt a response from the United States.
Trump's cruise missile strikes were a quick slap to let the Syrian regime (and others) know that further chemical weapons use will not be tolerated.
No one thinks these strikes will have an impact on the overall struggle in Syria. They do send a message that the use of chemical weapons might prompt a response from the United States.
6
Yes, there are many ways to get the US to bomb someplace by decoying, false flagging, infiltration, etc.
People get angry when the person they want to win loses. Some get over it, some don't. A lot of people can't get over this one. Mr. Blow seems to be one of them. That's most of what I get from his articles. It is so loud, it tends to drown out his points.
I have never been a Trump supporter though I do not think he's the bogey his opponents do. All the same, if you think he has a general foreign or domestic policy you are kidding yourself. There is little ideology, except to make conservative nominations and that we "win," whatever it means. He just cares that we feel it and think it is because of him.
However deep Trump's flaws, It is not impossible he might succeed in some things. The world is a complicated place and we can't control it. But, things like goals, good faith and determination help - at least eventually. Syria is not just another failed country, but the biggest problem in the world today for other countries. ISIS and Assad both need to go and the slaughter and refugee crisis ended, even if there is no clear path afterwards. Clearly, only we can lead in this, no matter who our leader is. Europe and anyone who has hope in the Middle East should follow. Mr. Blow is right that sometimes sitting one out is wisdom. But sometimes it is a mistake and less safe. I could be wrong, but I think that most Americans want us to be engaged in Syria, but not tentatively - in a way that plays to our technological advantages but shows that we intend to win decisively.
I have never been a Trump supporter though I do not think he's the bogey his opponents do. All the same, if you think he has a general foreign or domestic policy you are kidding yourself. There is little ideology, except to make conservative nominations and that we "win," whatever it means. He just cares that we feel it and think it is because of him.
However deep Trump's flaws, It is not impossible he might succeed in some things. The world is a complicated place and we can't control it. But, things like goals, good faith and determination help - at least eventually. Syria is not just another failed country, but the biggest problem in the world today for other countries. ISIS and Assad both need to go and the slaughter and refugee crisis ended, even if there is no clear path afterwards. Clearly, only we can lead in this, no matter who our leader is. Europe and anyone who has hope in the Middle East should follow. Mr. Blow is right that sometimes sitting one out is wisdom. But sometimes it is a mistake and less safe. I could be wrong, but I think that most Americans want us to be engaged in Syria, but not tentatively - in a way that plays to our technological advantages but shows that we intend to win decisively.
2
NO!
Another endless war in which no one wins and our children and treasury bleed. Are you and your children going to sign up to be the first on the front line? Courage, as you said, you feel it is important for us to fight in Syria.
Another endless war in which no one wins and our children and treasury bleed. Are you and your children going to sign up to be the first on the front line? Courage, as you said, you feel it is important for us to fight in Syria.
1
As usual - Bernie Sanders is getting it right.
2
The Russian scandal looms over Trump's administration, calling into question its legitimacy. Trump's primary aim right now is to assert his authority as the elected U.S. president and as commander-in-chief. His decision to bomb Syria, which has given him at least a temporary boost in that direction, followed by Tillerson's tough words on Russia, must be seen first and foremost in that context.
1
Throughout our history, American decisions regarding war and weapons of war have been decisive in shaping our social, economic and political decisions. Nothing has changed, loyalties to the once strong
social structures of family, church and workplace have broken down. With the immediate availability of weapons to alienated individuals, violence has become endemic. Weaponry such as the nuclear bomb is both irrelevant to the domestic need for order and threatening, but one might ask for how long?
social structures of family, church and workplace have broken down. With the immediate availability of weapons to alienated individuals, violence has become endemic. Weaponry such as the nuclear bomb is both irrelevant to the domestic need for order and threatening, but one might ask for how long?
2
If America was a human being it would be King Lear.
4
Yes,
The Western Democracies would be Cordelia, Regan would would be the GOP and Russia would be Goneril.
Thank goodness for the plethora of fools. It is time the NYT had a daily editorial cartoon on its front page. The nation is descending into farce but who knew laughter could be so painful.
The Western Democracies would be Cordelia, Regan would would be the GOP and Russia would be Goneril.
Thank goodness for the plethora of fools. It is time the NYT had a daily editorial cartoon on its front page. The nation is descending into farce but who knew laughter could be so painful.
"And the world in general, and America in particular, has a way of being wishy-washy about which atrocities deserve responses and which ones don’t."
I would ask that the press and new organizations take responsibility for their part in the use of war as a manipulation for political gain. The use of the press in this regard is a key component in the plans of those in power use to make sure those political points hit home. The press often also chooses what information gets reported and it is often decided with less objectivity than would be appropriate. The press is not innocent in helping create situations that can be used for political gain and often are complicent. Creating the narrative and headlines to be used as motivation to sell more papers and commercials is not an objective choice. Blaming it all on the powers that be as the creators of a less than objective narrative for political purposes can be laid at the feet of the press as well. I am not sure what the answer is. We have a public that has been trained to respond to headlines and a juicy narrative as opposed to being willing to make the intellectual effort to take in information that may be less than riveting due to it's objective content. I believe it would be harder for those that choose to use war or any other issue as a weaponized tool if the press were able to take money out of the equation. NPR seems to be able to do it, but they are not totally innocent either.
I would ask that the press and new organizations take responsibility for their part in the use of war as a manipulation for political gain. The use of the press in this regard is a key component in the plans of those in power use to make sure those political points hit home. The press often also chooses what information gets reported and it is often decided with less objectivity than would be appropriate. The press is not innocent in helping create situations that can be used for political gain and often are complicent. Creating the narrative and headlines to be used as motivation to sell more papers and commercials is not an objective choice. Blaming it all on the powers that be as the creators of a less than objective narrative for political purposes can be laid at the feet of the press as well. I am not sure what the answer is. We have a public that has been trained to respond to headlines and a juicy narrative as opposed to being willing to make the intellectual effort to take in information that may be less than riveting due to it's objective content. I believe it would be harder for those that choose to use war or any other issue as a weaponized tool if the press were able to take money out of the equation. NPR seems to be able to do it, but they are not totally innocent either.
2
Americans do not have any easy time with the deep truth that the alternative to bad is often Even Worse. Most of the rest of the world does understand this on some level. We are missing a big bulwark against idiocy when the conservatives who should be warning us as about un intended consequences are the most heedless. Hitting Assad feels good but Pandora has opened the box we know not what will come out
3
For so many historical reasons, the Middle East has always been, the ultimate quagmire, never ever really calming down for too long. Although I can understand taking action that makes a statement and has good intentions for one side of a conflict, ensuing consequences are often multi-sided, with unforeseen results: the stage is now already setting up for the next act of war and there is little indication that we or anyone else is safer. More than the missile strike itself (expensive, showy, not effective), what is most troubling to me is the instant turn around made by Trump to even launch an attack in Syria. After proclaiming repeatedly and loudly on many public videos that he would never attack, even telling Obama to not attack, Trump changes with the winds, and the US attacks. Chemical weapons should never be used and need to be destroyed forever, but unpredictable decision-making that is never consistent, never overtly based on any real coherent policy, will not make the world a safer place.
11
My 7th grade teacher said the next world war will be fought in the Middle East. He was right.
Unless we curb this useless insanity where no one wins, everyone will lose big. Who will Play.? U.S., Russia, China. North Korea, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia. How many will die? What will be considered a win.
I suggest we get as many countries together as possible and launch a diplomatic and financial strike.
Unless we curb this useless insanity where no one wins, everyone will lose big. Who will Play.? U.S., Russia, China. North Korea, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia. How many will die? What will be considered a win.
I suggest we get as many countries together as possible and launch a diplomatic and financial strike.
After the chemical weapons attack by Assad in 2013, intense diplomacy and the threat of force led Russia to agree to oversee and supposedly verify the destruction of Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile. The Obama administration subsequently maintained its pressure on the Assad regime, insisting that Assad had lost the right to lead his people. Moreover, the Obama administration sided with Assad’s victims, asking that America take in more Syrian refugees.
From 2013 onwards, Donald Trump repeatedly insisted that America not get entangled in Syria. It was one of his few clear foreign policy points throughout his presidential campaign. Once in the Oval Office, Trump issued his anti-Muslim executive order, which in part was overtly designed to prevent Syrian refugees from coming to America. Trump as much as told Assad that unlike the Obama administration, his administration held no moral or ethical concern for the welfare of Assad’s victims. Then, in the days before this recent chemical weapons attack, the Trump administration declared that it accepted the status quo in Syria; accordingly, America would no longer challenge Assad's legitimacy.
The Trump administration ignored the template established by the Obama administration, and instead sent Assad a new series of signals. Assad responded by launching a sarin attack against civilians. Trump responded with airstrikes, but now what? Once again, the wisdom of President Obama’s approach is on clear display. Will Trump ever learn?
From 2013 onwards, Donald Trump repeatedly insisted that America not get entangled in Syria. It was one of his few clear foreign policy points throughout his presidential campaign. Once in the Oval Office, Trump issued his anti-Muslim executive order, which in part was overtly designed to prevent Syrian refugees from coming to America. Trump as much as told Assad that unlike the Obama administration, his administration held no moral or ethical concern for the welfare of Assad’s victims. Then, in the days before this recent chemical weapons attack, the Trump administration declared that it accepted the status quo in Syria; accordingly, America would no longer challenge Assad's legitimacy.
The Trump administration ignored the template established by the Obama administration, and instead sent Assad a new series of signals. Assad responded by launching a sarin attack against civilians. Trump responded with airstrikes, but now what? Once again, the wisdom of President Obama’s approach is on clear display. Will Trump ever learn?
15
The fact that war is an instrument of policy is not new -- it is Clausewitz. But Trump has no policy. He contradicts himself. In the words of his ghost writer Tony Schwartz, "I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets his hands on the nuclear codes, there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization."
We are going to wake up one morning and learn we are actually at war. Not debating Trump's real motives or the distressing implications one can read into his disorganized and vaguely paranoid thought patterns, so disconnected from reality. If we are lucky we will read about it in the newspaper. If we are not lucky, someone else will be reading about us.
We are going to wake up one morning and learn we are actually at war. Not debating Trump's real motives or the distressing implications one can read into his disorganized and vaguely paranoid thought patterns, so disconnected from reality. If we are lucky we will read about it in the newspaper. If we are not lucky, someone else will be reading about us.
9
Blow’s accusation about Asad’s guilt comes without an investigation or unimpeachable judgement. Iraq’s WMDs were imaginary. Those who pushed for war against Iraq are the same individuals who are pushing for war now with Syria.
The public is exposed to one, and only one viewpoint, on the April 4 event. If those who advocate an aggression against Syria, why is there so much resistance on their part for an independent evaluation? If such inquiry concluded that Asad ordered the attack, this would reinforce their argument for military intervention.
But what if study finds that Damascus was not responsible, or if the evidence is inconclusive?
The mainstream media has done a horrible job informing the public just who are the opponents of the Asad regime. They constantly use the term “moderate” when the evidence shows that the main opposition is al Qaeda, other jihadist groups, and their Syrian supporters. They continually ignore that the majority of Syrians remain in government controlled areas, not rebel ones.
Also being ignored is just whom do the anti-Asad cabal expect to replace him? Will the extremists disappear, or will they use their firepower to grab power? Will there be less violence, or will the collapse of a central administration result in sectional, sectarian, and ethnic violence?
When the same people who pushed for Syrian regime change for years are those we now seek advice from now, our policy options become limited and likely to end in disaster.
The public is exposed to one, and only one viewpoint, on the April 4 event. If those who advocate an aggression against Syria, why is there so much resistance on their part for an independent evaluation? If such inquiry concluded that Asad ordered the attack, this would reinforce their argument for military intervention.
But what if study finds that Damascus was not responsible, or if the evidence is inconclusive?
The mainstream media has done a horrible job informing the public just who are the opponents of the Asad regime. They constantly use the term “moderate” when the evidence shows that the main opposition is al Qaeda, other jihadist groups, and their Syrian supporters. They continually ignore that the majority of Syrians remain in government controlled areas, not rebel ones.
Also being ignored is just whom do the anti-Asad cabal expect to replace him? Will the extremists disappear, or will they use their firepower to grab power? Will there be less violence, or will the collapse of a central administration result in sectional, sectarian, and ethnic violence?
When the same people who pushed for Syrian regime change for years are those we now seek advice from now, our policy options become limited and likely to end in disaster.
6
I just love that we are the only nation in history to bomb both sides of a civil war! That's either tragic of super funny.
And 60 million, we probably spend less on security at Mar a Loco...
And 60 million, we probably spend less on security at Mar a Loco...
121
There are many more than two sides to Syria's civil war.
1
Mar-a-Loco--wish I'd thought of that. But...War-a-Loco?
It is abundantly clear that by maintaining a non intervention policy in Syria we are conceding the entire eastern Mediterranean and the black sea to Russian influence. We are saying that if the powers that be want a corrupt cleptocrat who does business with Moscow in power in Bulgaria, Romania or anywhere in that region, it is ok with us. As for Ukraine we might as well say that we would approve of an invasion. Now it is nice to say that we were quite awful in what we did with native Americans and that our record on slavery is less than sterling, but aspirationally we have always stood for democratic norms. If we take a pacifisrt position that means we don't have the slightest concern that strong undemocratic corrupt Russian influence is worse. If you don't know that you don't know what foreign policy is. The inability of my fellow liberals to grasp such things is one more reason why denying them power has some merits.
That said, I very much doubt that the presenmt administration has any idea of what they are doing or saying by their actions.
That said, I very much doubt that the presenmt administration has any idea of what they are doing or saying by their actions.
14
Is having the region influenced by Russia and Iran worse than having the region influenced by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States?
Don't confuse pacifism with realism, or real-politic. We're not talking about picking good vs evil here, we're talking about choosing the less bad option. Both Russia and Iran are far more democratic than Saudi Arabia or the Gulf states.
Don't confuse pacifism with realism, or real-politic. We're not talking about picking good vs evil here, we're talking about choosing the less bad option. Both Russia and Iran are far more democratic than Saudi Arabia or the Gulf states.
1
Vietnam--what did we win or the people of Vietnam win? Even Johnson saw it as defeat. How many died on both sides? How much did it cost?
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Ignore history at the peril of young American lives. I have an idea. What if we draft all the old men who are insisting on war and let them fight it.
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Ignore history at the peril of young American lives. I have an idea. What if we draft all the old men who are insisting on war and let them fight it.
1
As horrible as this attack was, it clearly points out Trump's weak spot, videos of dying white children. This happened before on Obama's watch and he warned Obama not to get involved. ISIS and others now clearly know they can frame their enemies by using chemical weapons aimed at civilians, especially children, to evoke a response. When Trump spoke about the pictures you could hear the emotion in his voice. Not that we don't want a compassionless President but Trump is know for acting on his, "instinct." What will he do next? No one has any idea, not even our president.
7
"dying white children..."
Great quote! Except, they weren't white... they were brown. Does that change your... "calculus"? Why?
Great quote! Except, they weren't white... they were brown. Does that change your... "calculus"? Why?
The constitution and United Nations needs reform and updating if it is ever to act as a world body furthering peace and justice. Why should The victorious allies of WWII exert such outsize influence? These powerful nations have vetoed or frustrated peace and justice efforts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia all our lives. Pope Francis, too, has vanished as a force of conscience from the front pages of the Times, and he has much wise counsel on the treatment of migrants, violent gangsters, and our responsibility for the environment. It is truly sad to listen to politicians and commentators suddenly start praising President Trump for dropping bombs on Syria, however odious and repulsive Assad is. Is this leadership? Beware the lying, impulsive, irresponsible Trump.
4
The Pope leads a religion that has been driving population growth to gain control of contested territory since its origin. Competitive tribal population growth to win political and economic hegemony is the root cause of warfare among humans.
C. Wright Mills. A lot of you already have read him. It is amazing and horrifying how prescient "The Power Elite" remains to this day.
3
"As righteous as we may feel about punishing Assad, Syria is a hornet’s nest of forces hostile to America: Assad, Russia, and Iran on one flank and ISIS on another. You can’t afflict one faction without assisting the other. In this way, Syria is a nearly unwinnable state.
We’ve been down this road before. Just over the horizon is a hill: Steep and greased with political motives, military ambitions, American blood and squandered treasury."
Who can disagree with that statement.??
We’ve been down this road before. Just over the horizon is a hill: Steep and greased with political motives, military ambitions, American blood and squandered treasury."
Who can disagree with that statement.??
5
From Vietnam until now, can somebody please outline the times where we dropped bombs into a sovereign country and it actually made a long term positive difference (other than the Balkans).
This is more about making us feel good and lining government contractors pockets than about promoting a legitimate strategic plan.
People that are getting all goo-goo eyed because Trump fired some tomahawk missiles really need a reality check. He has no clue what he's doing in probably what is the most complex geopolitical conflict since the cold war.
The risks of this so far outweigh the rewards that it's not even a close call.
This is more about making us feel good and lining government contractors pockets than about promoting a legitimate strategic plan.
People that are getting all goo-goo eyed because Trump fired some tomahawk missiles really need a reality check. He has no clue what he's doing in probably what is the most complex geopolitical conflict since the cold war.
The risks of this so far outweigh the rewards that it's not even a close call.
14
Better to bomb Syria n try to stop bad press on refuge suffering than take responsibility for resettling them. Stop the flow over there is the goal. Bombs are the easier choice over humane work in the world. Nothing sincere in #45's little chat about what he did and why.
Agreed.
And his cringe worthy attempt at a show of compassion for the "little babies" was as transparently fraudulent as anything I've ever seen.
It was clever in that by criticizing his statement you run the risk of looking heartless, but viewed in light of the policies he's pursued vis-a-vis Syrian refugees it is clearly completely bogus.
And his cringe worthy attempt at a show of compassion for the "little babies" was as transparently fraudulent as anything I've ever seen.
It was clever in that by criticizing his statement you run the risk of looking heartless, but viewed in light of the policies he's pursued vis-a-vis Syrian refugees it is clearly completely bogus.
Or maybe the narcissist in charge just wanted to test his powers, and now he knows he can launch without the consent of Congress. One wonders what other tests might be in store.
11
My initial response to the attack on the Syrian/Russian airbase was that it was the first thing Trump had gotten right. Obama, whom I think was a good president, should have done so in 2013. Had he struck then it is possible that Russia would not be as involved as they are now. Having learned that the airbase is already in use to launch air strikes against the same people makes me wonder what it accomplished.
4
You mean the GOP should have acted upon Obama's request but did not.
Was it legal without Congressional consent?
If not, Impeach without delay.
If not, Impeach without delay.
I am very worried that this is just trump's opening salvo, designed to distract Americans from the growing suspicions of high level Russian involvement in the 2016 election and guaranteed to boost his abysmal approval ratings.
While we wait for this administration to answer the what's next question, we need to keep our eye on the investigation into how trump won the election with Russian interference.
While we wait for this administration to answer the what's next question, we need to keep our eye on the investigation into how trump won the election with Russian interference.
12
Very good piece. I feel Obama has taken some heat in the last week for not doing "more" in Syria. The fact of the matter is this is a civil war and Obama was and is correct in there is no viable party to hand the government over to. We cannot just go bombing places without determining what is the long range strategy. For Syria, since there is no viable party that can govern effectively, I think our response should be to allow Syrian refugees into the US.
19
how many Syrian refugees are you willing to take into your home?
Obama bragged about "red lines" in the sand and they jetted off to play golf
Obama bragged about "red lines" in the sand and they jetted off to play golf
1
Leave politics and ideology aside here. A weapon of mass destruction (chemical, biological, nuclear) is not just another bomb. Such weapons are capable of destruction on an unimaginable scale. They are seldom, if ever, used because of the high likelihood of an immediate and violent reaction from major powers. Obama (whom I supported in both elections) was dead wrong to allow Assad to go unpunished and undeterred. Once the use of these weapons is normalized by our inaction, they WILL be used. That can't be allowed to happen.
Whether Donald Trump acted on this basis or more some other reason is irrelevant.
Whether Donald Trump acted on this basis or more some other reason is irrelevant.
1
If Trump really wanted to punish Assad, he should have directed the missiles to Assad's presidential residence. The attack Trump launched did no damage and will not deter a dictator who thinks nothing of slaughtering 400,000 of his own people in order to remain in power. All the attack accomplished was to convince Assad and his friends that America is a paper tiger that can be defied without real consequences.
1
Is throwing the clothing of people who died of disease over an enemy fortification, in hopes of spreading that disease to the enemy, the use of weapons of mass destruction? Do you think this just started with us? You need to spend some time in a library.
Meanwhile, the hawks in Congress, who were too cowardly to even take a vote in 2013, are applauding Donald Trump. He made their efforts to refrain from taking responsibility for acting on a Congressional power so much easier. They can sit back and praise his action, with a qualifier, "Don't blame me" if the action proves deleterious in the longer run. How dare President Obama actually ask Congress for approval to take military action!
10
When will we start talking about Russian-Trump collusion investigations again?
8
Sending missiles does not make someone great. Trump is a liar and not to be trusted. America do not be deceived.
9
Just as we learned from Napoleon and Hitler that invading Russia is always a bad idea, we should have learned from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the perpetual quagmire of Israel and Palestine that getting engaging Syria with military force serves no beneficial purpose, accept to stoke the fire of moral outrage and fill the coffers of weapons manufacturers.
Why didn't Trump care about all the suffering Syrian children when they were merely starving, being forced from their homes, and/or killed with conventional weapons? Because there was no opportunity to make himself the hero of the day and hopefully gain a few points in his approval rating And it's really sickening the way his supporters and the Republicans at large refuse to call him out for changing positions almost by the hour, and still having no clear agenda or plan for anything, let along foreign policy.
Why didn't Trump care about all the suffering Syrian children when they were merely starving, being forced from their homes, and/or killed with conventional weapons? Because there was no opportunity to make himself the hero of the day and hopefully gain a few points in his approval rating And it's really sickening the way his supporters and the Republicans at large refuse to call him out for changing positions almost by the hour, and still having no clear agenda or plan for anything, let along foreign policy.
24
When is someone going to tell the Donald that firing missiles is not a video game and running a country is not a reality show.
136
You are so right! One feels that he is playing with his toys, all the while tricking the media and his followers into praising his sensitive reaction to this latest atrocity all the while he was insensate to the suffering of Syrians up until now.
Would Donald listen or really care?
I wonder if Trump had his name inscribed on the missles...
28
Congress, or at least the Democrats in Congress, need to put the brakes on the Donald. We should have learned from our previous experience that nothing good comes of our interference in the Middle East.
And the news media needs to resist the urge to gushingly fawn over any highly visible use of our military hardware. The media cheerled the invasion of Iraq under Dubya, to its own shame. We're still paying for that. Everything going on in Syria came out of that Godforsaken misadventure.
I'm going to be writing, calling, and emailing my Congresswoman, my two Senators, Chuck Schumer, John McCain, and anyone else I can think of who might have some sense about Syria. The brakes must be put on.
And the news media needs to resist the urge to gushingly fawn over any highly visible use of our military hardware. The media cheerled the invasion of Iraq under Dubya, to its own shame. We're still paying for that. Everything going on in Syria came out of that Godforsaken misadventure.
I'm going to be writing, calling, and emailing my Congresswoman, my two Senators, Chuck Schumer, John McCain, and anyone else I can think of who might have some sense about Syria. The brakes must be put on.
54
And with minorities in both the House and Senate just how are the democrats going to "put the brakes"on President Trump?
2
Hi, Charles W -
All by themselves, the Democrats in Congress could only slow things down procedurally. However, that in itself could be significant. The rules in the Senate were used quite well against President Obama over 600 times to bring attempted legislation to a crawl or a halt.
But the most promising aspect of this is that a number of Republicans in both Houses of Congress are demanding that Trump seek and obtain Congressional approval before engaging in any further military action. That's why I will also be mailing to John McCain, for example.
Cheers.
All by themselves, the Democrats in Congress could only slow things down procedurally. However, that in itself could be significant. The rules in the Senate were used quite well against President Obama over 600 times to bring attempted legislation to a crawl or a halt.
But the most promising aspect of this is that a number of Republicans in both Houses of Congress are demanding that Trump seek and obtain Congressional approval before engaging in any further military action. That's why I will also be mailing to John McCain, for example.
Cheers.
Almost certainly leaders within the American state department and military already know that Syria is another Viet Nam. This in part, explains why the USA and its allies have turned a blind eye to over 400,000 grisly deaths committed by Assad's regime and have done virtually nothing to stop his carnage. Therefore Trump's attack is strategically futile - it is primarily political theatre. The video clips of 59 tomahawk cruise missles being launched in the dead of night have a 4th of July fireworks display vibe which might scratch a momentary itch for retributive justice - for some. It is astounding to see how many people in the media are deceived by this and are now calling Trump "Presidential". It is time for more journalists like Charles Blow to get back to work and expose the real motives behind, and the potentially disastrous outcomes of, the Trump Administration's lastest distraction.
52
I am "TRUMPED" AND "BUSHED". I would go to an anti-war war march like I did for IRAQ but what is the use? Our politicians don't care what we want and think. The defense industries get richer. The military gets richer.
We get permanent war.
As a great republican hero and President, President Eisenhower said "Beware the industrial-military complex". As the great general who led the Allied forces to victory in WWII and as a president dealing with the Korean Conflict, he understood the great cost of war.
No one looks at the results of war. What have we "won"? What have we "lost"?
Can we afford it, both in treasure and blood? Will our citizens get fed up with the government's failure to work out diplomatic solutions? What do we cut next in getting more money for the military? Do we eliminate food stamps, welfare, privatize public schools?
What happens when we exhaust our treasury? The most important question is "have these wars made us safer?".
We get permanent war.
As a great republican hero and President, President Eisenhower said "Beware the industrial-military complex". As the great general who led the Allied forces to victory in WWII and as a president dealing with the Korean Conflict, he understood the great cost of war.
No one looks at the results of war. What have we "won"? What have we "lost"?
Can we afford it, both in treasure and blood? Will our citizens get fed up with the government's failure to work out diplomatic solutions? What do we cut next in getting more money for the military? Do we eliminate food stamps, welfare, privatize public schools?
What happens when we exhaust our treasury? The most important question is "have these wars made us safer?".
41
IKE originally was going to say "Beware the CONGRESSIONAL-industrial-military complex" but was convinced not to mention Congress in the cabal. I recall that a Secretary of Defense (War) said that the economy depends on wars.
1
Trump understands the distraction value of this move, and has already shown that he will do anything to improve his image for those who refuse to learn from history. Unfortunately, this works too often, and it is up to competent, honest journalists to blow the whistle and bring us to our senses. Thank you.
27
The goal remans the same:
Tillerson will go to Moscow.
The Russians will back off Syria in some way.
Tillerson will promise to lift the sanctions.
Exxon Mobil can then drill in Russia.
Tillerson will go back to Exxon Mobil because being Secretary of State was never his purpose.
Trump, Putin, Exxon Mobil, and Tillerson will make out like bandits - in that order.
What we may never know: How much of the chemical weapon attack on innocent people was all part of Trump's and Putin's plan to achieve the drilling goal.
Tillerson will go to Moscow.
The Russians will back off Syria in some way.
Tillerson will promise to lift the sanctions.
Exxon Mobil can then drill in Russia.
Tillerson will go back to Exxon Mobil because being Secretary of State was never his purpose.
Trump, Putin, Exxon Mobil, and Tillerson will make out like bandits - in that order.
What we may never know: How much of the chemical weapon attack on innocent people was all part of Trump's and Putin's plan to achieve the drilling goal.
32
Another vast right wing conspiracy, right? At least in the twisted minds of Democrats who still won't accept the fact that their chosen candidate was beaten by a capitalist and television reality star.
If we have learned one thing about Trump, it is that he is a flat out, incorrigible liar. Thanks for the column.
37
Thank god Obama, Kerry and what's her face assured us that Syria had no more chemical weapons. it's all an illusion!
Aside from spending enough to keep meals on wheels going for 4-5 years we accomplished very little. The runways were not hit and in fact Assad's Air Force used that airfield the very next day to drop bombs on the very same city he gassed earlier.
1) Trump warned Putin. 2) Putin turned off the air defense system so our rockets could get through. 3) Both Russia and Syria removed personnel and equipment. 4) Trump was hailed a hero by the MSM who should be a little more careful in their analysis. 5) Putin is expressing great outrage and rattling the windows. 6) Tillerson (Putin's BFF) is making harsh pronouncements about Russia.
Anybody want to bet that this ends with some Syrian concession and the lifting of Russian sanctions? It's all Sound and fury leading to lifting of the Russian sanctions. That, according to the Steel dossier, makes Trump a lot of cash.
1) Trump warned Putin. 2) Putin turned off the air defense system so our rockets could get through. 3) Both Russia and Syria removed personnel and equipment. 4) Trump was hailed a hero by the MSM who should be a little more careful in their analysis. 5) Putin is expressing great outrage and rattling the windows. 6) Tillerson (Putin's BFF) is making harsh pronouncements about Russia.
Anybody want to bet that this ends with some Syrian concession and the lifting of Russian sanctions? It's all Sound and fury leading to lifting of the Russian sanctions. That, according to the Steel dossier, makes Trump a lot of cash.
24
The media in general continues to misjudge President Obama's reluctance to become involved in Syria---they mistake cautiousness for wisdom. Obama understood the world better than most---his background educated him well for kind of the political/cultural turmoil we have been witnessing in the Middle East. He was not governed by instinct, but, my knowledge of years growing up in different cultures. Except for his ventures to foreign golf courses, Trump is an insular president with no understanding of the hornet's nest of religious divides that he could be sending out young men and women into. Similar to our other insular president---G. Bush---, who thought Iraq would be a cakewalk, our new president is walking us into Quagmire #3 in the region.
26
Do you remember the original of "The Day The Earth Stood Still"?
We need a robot.
We need a robot.
6
Thanks to Mr. Blow for putting Syria in stark perspective.
In this "no win" arena Pres O's approach of supporting the Kurds against ISIS and creating a stable and defensible enclave of sanity might have, in the distant future, created leverage to carve up Middle East along sustainable ethnic/cultural lines.
Problem is, tonite's right-wing news show is the "distant future" to President T.
In this "no win" arena Pres O's approach of supporting the Kurds against ISIS and creating a stable and defensible enclave of sanity might have, in the distant future, created leverage to carve up Middle East along sustainable ethnic/cultural lines.
Problem is, tonite's right-wing news show is the "distant future" to President T.
6
Anyone wish to bet that sanctions are eased after Putin agrees to dispossess Assad of power? New Russian puppet government in Syria is placed into power, perhaps one that stops killing its people. Trump and Putin joined at the hip. Money talks. Putin and Trump's Russian mob friends get richer. Assad is a goner. Flynn' mistake was jumping the gun.
6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTq3QtDP9Lk&feature=share
Want the truth..take a look at this..watch until the end.
Want the truth..take a look at this..watch until the end.
8
Well worth watching and her testimony sheds doubt that Assad is the only one who had (has) chemical weapons.
As long as we feel lead by a recall to Greatness, it seems impossible, at least in this piece or the dozen comments I scanned, to think of the United Nations. I know the reality is far from there, but we must head in that direction if we are not to implode on a scale not possible before 1945.
3
A simple test should be applied by all presidents to determine the necessity of military action: what is the vital interest of the United States at risk in the absence of military action?
4
@ Dennis Walsh - That is exactly the problem with Nikki Haley's statement at the UN as I noted in a comment a day or two ago. Repeat: ”The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said stopping the use of chemical weapons was a vital national security interest."
Did she mean in Syria or worldwide? And what present vital interest in the USA is at risk if 59 Tomahawks had not been sent at the airfield?
Answer none to all questions.
If we were really interested in the lives of Americans then we obviously would have Universal Health Care and x and y and z but not military action after a single gas attack.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Did she mean in Syria or worldwide? And what present vital interest in the USA is at risk if 59 Tomahawks had not been sent at the airfield?
Answer none to all questions.
If we were really interested in the lives of Americans then we obviously would have Universal Health Care and x and y and z but not military action after a single gas attack.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Charles just enunciated more guidance on the decision to use military force in one opinion peace than GW and Obama did during their combined years in office.
9
obviously, you never listened to any speech Pres. Obama gave on the subject.
I agree.
1
most americans seem to get pretty pumped up about bombing and invading countries. pretty much a guaranteed reaction.
then after the thrill of 'my country right or wrong' subsides as the desired result seems to dissipate--as it predictably does--disillusionment follows as the adrenaline rush fades.
then after the thrill of 'my country right or wrong' subsides as the desired result seems to dissipate--as it predictably does--disillusionment follows as the adrenaline rush fades.
11
Charles--I have always admired your brutal honesty in these columns. Keep up the good work. But why not name some names, too. Those $60 million of missiles came from the Raytheon Company. How much did their stock soar last Friday? More than 2.5% at the opening bell. War is good business. For some that is. Others have only their sons and daughters to invest.
60
Charles, as usual, much of what you say resonates deeply, as it remains uncertain whether Trump's attack was or was not a wise political and/or practical move.
However, mostly I am struck by the beauty of your writing; your skillful use of metaphor, the images you portray and the passion that always lies at the core of your essays. War is an ugly, ugly reality but your writing is hauntingly beautiful and illustrative at the same time.
However, mostly I am struck by the beauty of your writing; your skillful use of metaphor, the images you portray and the passion that always lies at the core of your essays. War is an ugly, ugly reality but your writing is hauntingly beautiful and illustrative at the same time.
35
Well said, Kathy.
You've expressed beautifully what I've often thought about Charles' writing.
The sad truth however, is that neither the Donald nor any of his "advisors"
are capable of getting the message, no matter how clearly and beautifully expressed.
You've expressed beautifully what I've often thought about Charles' writing.
The sad truth however, is that neither the Donald nor any of his "advisors"
are capable of getting the message, no matter how clearly and beautifully expressed.
The problem is that even if the action is noble and justifiable, the motives of the current Commander in Chief will always be questioned because of his history of lying and impulsive behavior. Three months into his term, Trump has absolutely destroyed any moral high ground for his administration and the presidency in general. He must be impeached.
30
Mr. Blow, I'm sensing that recent events in Syria are being evaluated in light of who sits in the Oval Office. Bill Clinton's policies in the Balkans, another cesspit of never ending conflict, were acceptable because it was Clinton and humanitarian. Now we see civilians being gassed and intervention is viewed through the lens of opposition to Donald Trump. Is your outrage because Trump is now President instead of Hillary Clinton who was Secretary of State during part of this mess? Civilian atrocities are horrific, but to view America's response by who is sitting in the White House is intellectually dishonest. You cry out to accept refugees from the war zone, but are against actions to prevent the use of poison gas on the very same people.
Having served during our unsuccessful little colonial war in southeast Asia a while back, I'm generally opposed to intervention in far off conflicts. America shouldn't be involved in Syria at all, but the standard should be the merits, not if the President is Red or Blue.
Having served during our unsuccessful little colonial war in southeast Asia a while back, I'm generally opposed to intervention in far off conflicts. America shouldn't be involved in Syria at all, but the standard should be the merits, not if the President is Red or Blue.
11
Thanks for this aditional keen thought.
Now we know why the President wants to increase the military budget. Like George W. Bush, the shortest path to ratcheting up your sagging approval ratings, as you note, and also silencing your critics is to wrap the flag around you and beat the drum of being a "wartime President." Of course as we've learned, or should have learned, in Iraq, it's easier to strut on an aircraft carrier and proclaim "Mission Accomplished" than to actually accomplish it. And with U.S. warships headed toward North Korea, the prospect of further military adventurism is unnerving.
21
"Now we know why the President wants to increase the military budget. Like George W. Bush, the shortest path to ratcheting up your sagging approval ratings, as you note, and also silencing your critics is to wrap the flag around you and beat the drum of being a "wartime President."
Good thing Hillary didn't win, you know, being such a "hawk" and all.
Good thing Hillary didn't win, you know, being such a "hawk" and all.
1
The United States has yet to use the the full array of financial and diplomatic tools it has to control despots like Bashar al-Assad. But application of such tools is a slow process and the results less dramatic than watching cruise missiles exploding on the nightly news.
And using financial tools often means hurting U.S. commercial interests that have money on the table. And those interests are the ones that speak most loudly in the backrooms in Washington.
And using financial tools often means hurting U.S. commercial interests that have money on the table. And those interests are the ones that speak most loudly in the backrooms in Washington.
10
Trump has learned that use of military force takes the Russian- administration collusion in our election out of the public spotlight.
Since Trump can't force Mexico to build the wall, coal country is not staging a comeback, the pace of jobs going out of country is resuming, his "Muslim ban" failed and he doesn't have a policy to rebuild infrastructure, I wonder if these military outbreaks will be enough to sustain his base?
Since Trump can't force Mexico to build the wall, coal country is not staging a comeback, the pace of jobs going out of country is resuming, his "Muslim ban" failed and he doesn't have a policy to rebuild infrastructure, I wonder if these military outbreaks will be enough to sustain his base?
25
War is the ultimate weapon politically....I once went to a lecture given by one of George Bush Junior's surrogates where the title was "Bush as a War President"... well before his reelection.
Bush and Cheney knew this tactic well and used the Iraq war as a pretense to get elected a second time... to the detriment of our country.
Bush and Cheney knew this tactic well and used the Iraq war as a pretense to get elected a second time... to the detriment of our country.
11
Disclaimer: This is not addressed to anyone who has or has had a loved one in the service.
Here is a thought for all those who like to see the USA "fighting" for the rights of others. If you never actually fought in a war, I mean the killing part of a war, you should try it or encourage a family member to join the service to fight for our country no matter whether you believe we are right or wrong.
The easy thing is to wave a flag or thank a veteran without actually seeing or knowing what that veteran has done or experienced during a war. The visions in their minds are not the ones you see being touted by those who sent them to their mission.
A soldier doesn't want to kill another human being but if the situation demands it he or she will. Up until the debacle of the Vietnam War, the US had a draft until it was eliminated and the USA embarked on an all volunteer Armed services. If drafted you had a choice, serve your country, run or get a deferment. Many served, some ran, lots got deferments especially the privileged.
We now have proxy wars. Your proxy is now serving on the front lines of every conflict the US is engaged in today. Think about that every time Donald J. Trump's proxy was serving in the Vietnam War and when he talks big about "carpet bombing" our enemies.
I'm not against war. I'm against politicians who find it easy to send others to do what they were not willing to do themselves.
Here is a thought for all those who like to see the USA "fighting" for the rights of others. If you never actually fought in a war, I mean the killing part of a war, you should try it or encourage a family member to join the service to fight for our country no matter whether you believe we are right or wrong.
The easy thing is to wave a flag or thank a veteran without actually seeing or knowing what that veteran has done or experienced during a war. The visions in their minds are not the ones you see being touted by those who sent them to their mission.
A soldier doesn't want to kill another human being but if the situation demands it he or she will. Up until the debacle of the Vietnam War, the US had a draft until it was eliminated and the USA embarked on an all volunteer Armed services. If drafted you had a choice, serve your country, run or get a deferment. Many served, some ran, lots got deferments especially the privileged.
We now have proxy wars. Your proxy is now serving on the front lines of every conflict the US is engaged in today. Think about that every time Donald J. Trump's proxy was serving in the Vietnam War and when he talks big about "carpet bombing" our enemies.
I'm not against war. I'm against politicians who find it easy to send others to do what they were not willing to do themselves.
25
Excellent and poignant piece !!!
4
"it's always the old who lead us to the wars always always the young who fall" Phil Oaks
1
Donald Trump has discovered a new tool to cover his malfeasance, lies, and corruption: use the power of the bombs. The cable news commentators, disgustingly, and shamefully showered praises on Trump's publicity stunt; that's all he needed. We're in for a long, and ugly four years.
41
The Russians are right about one thing. Assad might very well be a monster, but the alternatives to Assad are infinitely worse. Consider: the best organized of the alternatives to Assad or the jihadists, such as the Al Nusra Front and the "Islamist State."
8
" Consider: the best organized of the alternatives to Assad or the jihadists, such as the Al Nusra Front and the "Islamist State.""
See: "Hussein, Saddam"
See: "Hussein, Saddam"
1
Especially at a time when the chorus rises in support of Mr. Trump's so-called humanitarian air strike (a true oxymoron), it behooves us all to spend three minutes listening and then a few minutes reflecting on Pete Seeger's performance of "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" from another era. Here's the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/j3SysxG6yoE
(Perhaps with today's increasing encroachment of the military-industrial complex, Mr. Seeger's title might have actually been the homophonic "Waste Deep in the Big Muddy".)
(Perhaps with today's increasing encroachment of the military-industrial complex, Mr. Seeger's title might have actually been the homophonic "Waste Deep in the Big Muddy".)
7
Thank you Mr Blow for an insightful column and contrary to what some of the commenters here are saying , a well reasoned argument.
There are quite a few on here - and many of them anti- trump people - who support this action - it does feel good after all to see a bad guy get hit back. But as you so wisely and with sound reason argue - actions like this require more thought than a visceral response. Trump , no matter how many people from both sides , from all walks of life are championing him, there is absolutely nothing he has done in his 70 years on this earth to instill any confidence that he has given this action the necessary reflection of all the possibilities that may occur to provide me with confidence, nor should it them.
Once again I see America clinging to the hope that a totally incompetent man who has somehow managed to rise to the highest office in our country will rise to the task. I guess the recent experience with W had no lasting effect on peoples hope for rainbows and unicorns.
I feared for the country when Trump won, and now I fear for us again as he gains the 'trust' of those that opposed him previously. Sad
There are quite a few on here - and many of them anti- trump people - who support this action - it does feel good after all to see a bad guy get hit back. But as you so wisely and with sound reason argue - actions like this require more thought than a visceral response. Trump , no matter how many people from both sides , from all walks of life are championing him, there is absolutely nothing he has done in his 70 years on this earth to instill any confidence that he has given this action the necessary reflection of all the possibilities that may occur to provide me with confidence, nor should it them.
Once again I see America clinging to the hope that a totally incompetent man who has somehow managed to rise to the highest office in our country will rise to the task. I guess the recent experience with W had no lasting effect on peoples hope for rainbows and unicorns.
I feared for the country when Trump won, and now I fear for us again as he gains the 'trust' of those that opposed him previously. Sad
29
Who are we as a nation? Putting aside the debates over just versus unjust wars, what is it that we stand for? Is it democracy? The rule of law? A deep commitment to international human rights?
Or is it some feel good moment when the talking heads of both Washington and their cable news acolytes tell us that we have "drawn a line in the sand" or "sent a message"?
The truth is that Syria, along with six other nations was on our "regime change" since 2001. The function of this list wasn't to promote democracy and certainly isn't legal. As the Project for a New America proclaimed, our role as the worlds super power depends on military action to advance American interests.
We soon discovered that 'our' interests were to control the oil producing nations of that region and by doing so hold economic leverage over the entire industrial world.
Syria was simply a pawn in this game. They were briefly off our hit list when we used their prisons for our own rendition and torture program. But they came back on the list and moved right to the top when Assad opposed a pipeline that we wanted to run from the Gulf states to the Mediterranean through Syria.
Throughout it all the Syrian people have been mere vehicles for our 'interests'. We don't care about their dying children or their Arab Spring. We have piled up corpses of dead babies all over the Middle East. Our government cares about the pipeline and the money to be made. So $Assad$ must go! So what is it that we care about?
Or is it some feel good moment when the talking heads of both Washington and their cable news acolytes tell us that we have "drawn a line in the sand" or "sent a message"?
The truth is that Syria, along with six other nations was on our "regime change" since 2001. The function of this list wasn't to promote democracy and certainly isn't legal. As the Project for a New America proclaimed, our role as the worlds super power depends on military action to advance American interests.
We soon discovered that 'our' interests were to control the oil producing nations of that region and by doing so hold economic leverage over the entire industrial world.
Syria was simply a pawn in this game. They were briefly off our hit list when we used their prisons for our own rendition and torture program. But they came back on the list and moved right to the top when Assad opposed a pipeline that we wanted to run from the Gulf states to the Mediterranean through Syria.
Throughout it all the Syrian people have been mere vehicles for our 'interests'. We don't care about their dying children or their Arab Spring. We have piled up corpses of dead babies all over the Middle East. Our government cares about the pipeline and the money to be made. So $Assad$ must go! So what is it that we care about?
15
Unless the US succeeds in producing an outcome either in terms of preventing further humanitarian disasters or extracting a negotiated political solution to the Syrian crisis, the quick, likely to be the one-off, military strikes in response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria that President Trump has ordered could only be construed as the political use of the military arm of the state by Trump to evoke security concerns of the American public as also to appear as the decisive leader.
17
I'm curious, how would you describe the lies of Obama, Rice and Kerry with respect to their claim that they convinced Syria to get rid of its chemical weapons? Was that NOT political?
Do children's lives mater to you?
Do children's lives mater to you?
No big surprise Mr limited attention span Trump has resorting to throwing bombs. To do anything in domestic politics means traversing an impenetrable thicket composed of battling stakeholders, would be stakeholders, and all the flotsam and jetsam (i.e. voters) these intensely proactive guardians of the status quo ante can entrap or induce through promises of a big payday or promoting irrational fears to abandon not only their constitutional rights but their very security and well being in the cause of (what all comes down to) making happier millionaires and billionaires.
16
It should be mandatory that all of our senior leaders (congress and the president) be made to watch President Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation in January of 1960 when this 5 star general warned of us the Military Industrial Complex being a two edged sword. So sad we have learned nothing from Ike's prophetic speech.
19
But the next day the planes were flying out of the very airport we bombed, making a fool out of the trump person.
24
The goal was to deter future chemical attacks - how many of those have taken place since the US strike? Airfields, I know from great experience, are very hard to take out of action and the stated US goal was never to render this particular airfield inoperable but to deter future chemical weapons attacks and to clearly articulate the US position on such atrocities (to Assad, Russia and Iran). This was a bold and correct move by the US, fully supported by allies. It's important to withdraw from partisanship and to recognize events for what they are. If Trump cured cancer, you'd find a way to criticize him.
1
"Hard-won wisdom" is in alarmingly short supply within this administration. At best, this coterie of businessmen can muster the instinctive desire to exploit a situation - any situation - for profit. At worst, they can utilize military power with no true objective other than for crass and meaningless egotistical purposes that do nothing to improve a situation while subjecting the US to ridicule and wasting lives on all sides. Many previously saw and commented on the saber rattling tendencies of this military high school cadet and draft dodging young adult who knows more than the generals; an all-too-common character type. Yet, we place great trust in the generals who now occupy several of this administration's key positions. With the ignorant sidelining of the State Department, one hopes that the generals are worthy of our trust.
11
The term to describe this administration is more like "short-term/expedient idiocy"--. There is no plan for anything, just short-sighted knee-jerk reactions to what appears at any time to give the most adulation.
Wars and military conflicts always use civilian populations as pawns. Nothing and no one is sacred.
Wars and military conflicts always use civilian populations as pawns. Nothing and no one is sacred.
I think that The United Nations needs to consider ways to take control of dictators who commit atrocities in the worlds face by taking away the military-threat that dictators have to fight the world on the removal of their leadership.
Is it feasible to only grant countries international ‘legal acknowledgement’ of their military action initiatives in the international world if their appointed Defense leader signs an agreement to hand-over their president for trial in International Court if multiple-country-approved evidence is presented to International Court that they have committed international crime involving the death of their own people? Such as possibly 7 world intelligence agencies verifying that the atrocity happened and that the country’s leader had issued the ‘direct’ order of the atrocity, with 5 countries law enforcement agencies verifying and/or approving the physical evidence?
Could The United Nations prevent dictators from reneging on the deal during the international arrest, and also prevent leaders from being falsely accused; by requiring that 3 nations must be willing and ‘ready’ to strike the military of the dictator’s country if the dictators military reneges on the deal?
All I know is that the rest of the world’s leaders needs to somehow start believing that, together, we have more power in the world than these dictators do, because we do.
Why not first ‘practice’ by removing some of the less military-threatening abusive dictating leaders in Africa?
Is it feasible to only grant countries international ‘legal acknowledgement’ of their military action initiatives in the international world if their appointed Defense leader signs an agreement to hand-over their president for trial in International Court if multiple-country-approved evidence is presented to International Court that they have committed international crime involving the death of their own people? Such as possibly 7 world intelligence agencies verifying that the atrocity happened and that the country’s leader had issued the ‘direct’ order of the atrocity, with 5 countries law enforcement agencies verifying and/or approving the physical evidence?
Could The United Nations prevent dictators from reneging on the deal during the international arrest, and also prevent leaders from being falsely accused; by requiring that 3 nations must be willing and ‘ready’ to strike the military of the dictator’s country if the dictators military reneges on the deal?
All I know is that the rest of the world’s leaders needs to somehow start believing that, together, we have more power in the world than these dictators do, because we do.
Why not first ‘practice’ by removing some of the less military-threatening abusive dictating leaders in Africa?
3
Any precisely what forces would the United Nations use to accomplish your plan? International norms require enforcement, or they are idle words. As Hobbes said, "And Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all." Only nations have forces, and the only serious right-minded nation with serious forces is the US. So, how shall the UN proceed?
Blow makes some good points, but his "stuff happens" argument can justify turning a blind eye to any suffering. I doubt that's his goal.
No, that's his goal. Moral equivalency and grandstanding are his aims.
1
Odd how something like a 35% (and plummeting) poll rating can suddenly bring about such a profound (though telegraphed and accordingly ineffectual) change in formerly hollered policy.
8
This attack was more of a show of resolve than a strategic maneuver. The airport is back in operation. The damaged buildings will soon be repaired. Assad still sits on his throne and the Syrian people are still being slaughtered.
The sad reality of the situation is that there is little we can do to correct the tragedy that is Syria. (While we are at it, what about Sudan?) The Syrian war is a crime against humanity.
No military solution exists. Only a political solution will work. The threat of military force used to coerce a political solution won't work because only a massive invasion and occupation will depose Assad. No way that will ever happen.
Assassination could be used to remove Assad, but that would just lead to more chaos. A free for all would erupt. That puts us back to occupation which won't happen.
We can't evacuate the people unless we send in a massive force to establish a safe passage corridor out of the country. This would essentially require an invasion. We won't even give safe harbor to the children that are being slaughtered.
There are no answers. If there were, we would have implemented them by now. There may have been a window for a solution six years ago, but that has long since closed. I emphasise the words, "may have".
The entire planet dropped the ball on this one as has happened in Sudan. Everyone everywhere did everything wrong. Now we can only lob missiles at a runway. The killing continues unabated.
The sad reality of the situation is that there is little we can do to correct the tragedy that is Syria. (While we are at it, what about Sudan?) The Syrian war is a crime against humanity.
No military solution exists. Only a political solution will work. The threat of military force used to coerce a political solution won't work because only a massive invasion and occupation will depose Assad. No way that will ever happen.
Assassination could be used to remove Assad, but that would just lead to more chaos. A free for all would erupt. That puts us back to occupation which won't happen.
We can't evacuate the people unless we send in a massive force to establish a safe passage corridor out of the country. This would essentially require an invasion. We won't even give safe harbor to the children that are being slaughtered.
There are no answers. If there were, we would have implemented them by now. There may have been a window for a solution six years ago, but that has long since closed. I emphasise the words, "may have".
The entire planet dropped the ball on this one as has happened in Sudan. Everyone everywhere did everything wrong. Now we can only lob missiles at a runway. The killing continues unabated.
68
This attack was more of a shiny object to distract the media than a show of resolve. And, as Brian Williams demonstrated, it worked "beautiful"ly. Squirrel!!!!
Agreed. I can't remember where I read this recently, but someone said "if there were a simple solution to a problem, someone would have implemented it already".
Trump thinks he's so smart (and that anyone who doesn't agree with him are so stupid) that he'll have the simple solution that no one else came up with. Where's that plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days? Where's the clearly brilliant, more-coverage-for-less-money Trumpcare we were promised?
The world is complicated and every action has an unexpected and generally unwelcome consequence.
Trump thinks he's so smart (and that anyone who doesn't agree with him are so stupid) that he'll have the simple solution that no one else came up with. Where's that plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days? Where's the clearly brilliant, more-coverage-for-less-money Trumpcare we were promised?
The world is complicated and every action has an unexpected and generally unwelcome consequence.
If he was going to act crazy, Lil'Donnie should have bombed and killed Assad with a drone. Much cheaper and direct.
I recall that in the early nineties the situation in Somalia was rapidly descending into chaos. The images of death and destruction, of hunger and sickness were horrific. "Something" had to be done. So Bill Clinton sent in the Marines... (and the Navy, and the Army, and the Air Force) After all, nothing says "something" the way military intervention does.
Of course, as we know, in Somalia it didn't achieve any lasting result other than to radicalize part of the Muslim population. American troops are still there and I imagine with hindsight the US would settle for disease-ridden destitution, but run by inward looking rival warlords as it was in 1992, over the current export of Islamic terror.
So, cruise missiles on Syria? Knee-jerk reaction without lasting effect, I fear. But, indeed, the temptation to do it again, when poll numbers start dropping, will be hard to resist. In the South China Sea perhaps?
Of course, as we know, in Somalia it didn't achieve any lasting result other than to radicalize part of the Muslim population. American troops are still there and I imagine with hindsight the US would settle for disease-ridden destitution, but run by inward looking rival warlords as it was in 1992, over the current export of Islamic terror.
So, cruise missiles on Syria? Knee-jerk reaction without lasting effect, I fear. But, indeed, the temptation to do it again, when poll numbers start dropping, will be hard to resist. In the South China Sea perhaps?
23
Another consequence, among many, of Trump's impulsive act is how it will undermine our foreign relations and trade. Trump's policy on Syria, if you can call Twitter rants and off-the-cuff remarks a policy, was against military intervention. Then, within a week, Trump reverses his position and launches an attack.
What message does this send to our allies about anything Donald Trump says? Anyone willing to diametrically reverse a position in such a short period of time is not a partner anyone will trust in alliances and trade. That lack of credibility will make the United States less secure and prosperous.
What message does this send to our allies about anything Donald Trump says? Anyone willing to diametrically reverse a position in such a short period of time is not a partner anyone will trust in alliances and trade. That lack of credibility will make the United States less secure and prosperous.
16
Agree but I like to think that this will bring an end game to Putin who will be arm twisted into taking out Assad in order to get sanctions lifted and embraced by NATO. This will give NATO power to control the next bad guy and Iran and Isis will be dealt with by the Saudi's. How's that for wishful thinking
1
The severe cynic in me believes that Russia lobbed that gas at those Syrians as a way of throwing a wrench into the spokes of the investigations of Trump's campaign collusion with Russia, to help Trump's clear desire to divert attention away from the investigations, and as a way of making less-thinking Americans believe it is proof that Trump is not some kind of partner with Russia and Putin, i.e.; propaganda to change what was the current line of thought.
I can't help but believe that based on what did appear to be Trump's increasing panic and tactics (Nunes) to quash the investigation, and Trump's overt sociopathy toward other human beings, making it hard to believe he felt any empathy for anyone but himself (see above: opportunity to distract).
I can't help but believe that based on what did appear to be Trump's increasing panic and tactics (Nunes) to quash the investigation, and Trump's overt sociopathy toward other human beings, making it hard to believe he felt any empathy for anyone but himself (see above: opportunity to distract).
18
as said on NPR this morning " a sheriff walks into a bar and fires a single shot in the air to stop a brawl.. Now what ?
13
Brilliant hoisting of the red flag of danger Mr. Blow.
As you say: "We’ve been down this road before. Just over the horizon is a hill: Steep and greased with political motives, military ambitions, American blood and squandered treasury."
We should repeat those words over and over again and ponder them before Trump's next need to put is small finger on the big button of war. It's never too late to stop.
As you say: "We’ve been down this road before. Just over the horizon is a hill: Steep and greased with political motives, military ambitions, American blood and squandered treasury."
We should repeat those words over and over again and ponder them before Trump's next need to put is small finger on the big button of war. It's never too late to stop.
17
Thank you as always for seeing through the narcissistic bluster and subterfuge of a man who has no ideology other than his poll numbers, and no compassion for anyone but himself, and perhaps his family. It is shocking and saddening to see the press not just accept this attack, but applaud it. As quickly as Trump changed last week from being apathetic about his feelings on Assad to bombing him, the press shifted from cynicism and skepticism concerning Trump to weak-kneed adulation. He hasn't changed. There was no conversion. His dramatic whisper as he described the beautiful babies of Syria was a performance. Firing a few missiles does not a commander-in-chief make. We're dealing with a cold-hearted businessman, nothing more elevated. We should be afraid. He now has a taste for war.
585
Thank you..my thoughts precisely!
4
He is ignorant of history and war. He does not know that there are no true "winners" in war. We all lose.
1
Lil' donnie is more ignorant than Bush (if that is even possible) and he will stumble into wars that bleed our young and treasury. Then he will loudly announce that he is winning. So sad.
1
Number one lesson of history: weak leaders in trouble at home start wars abroad.
103
Trump appears, to external observers, incapable of leading a cohesive, coherent international policy because he lacks wisdom and he has alienated our allies; this gives greater freedom of action to many such as Syria (and Russia) and displays of fire-power change nothing.
The chronology is clear: Assad waited until Obama was gone before using chemical weapons - all it took was a few days. The world is inherently more dangerous under Trump: his chaos breeds contempt.
The chronology is clear: Assad waited until Obama was gone before using chemical weapons - all it took was a few days. The world is inherently more dangerous under Trump: his chaos breeds contempt.
363
Assad used chemical weapons to much more deadly devastating impact when Obama was President. Obama stupidly drew a red line regarding the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.
Everyone with any minimum level of South Side Chicago streetwise common sense knows that you never make any public threats. You never tip your hand and give advance warning of your intent to a potential opponent unless you are prepared to follow through with quick brutal ruthless efficiency. And you never risk a preemptive strike against you. Big talkers are perceived as cowardly fools. The worst thing you can do for your street credibility after making a threat is to not carry it out if you are called on it.
The two coldest callous street thugs are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Along with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there be thugs out there. Trump is not in their class. Obama's calm cerebral approach was meant for a law school faculty graduate seminar symposium and it bred eye-rolls, head shakes and smirks. Obama also said that Assad had to go.
Everyone with any minimum level of South Side Chicago streetwise common sense knows that you never make any public threats. You never tip your hand and give advance warning of your intent to a potential opponent unless you are prepared to follow through with quick brutal ruthless efficiency. And you never risk a preemptive strike against you. Big talkers are perceived as cowardly fools. The worst thing you can do for your street credibility after making a threat is to not carry it out if you are called on it.
The two coldest callous street thugs are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Along with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there be thugs out there. Trump is not in their class. Obama's calm cerebral approach was meant for a law school faculty graduate seminar symposium and it bred eye-rolls, head shakes and smirks. Obama also said that Assad had to go.
1
Since 9/11, the US has spent well over $1 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and against ISIS (http://tinyurl.com/ona7x2g) but are we any more secure? That is the question to ponder.
All the launching of Tomahawk missiles did was to make us feel “righteous,” as you put it. The adverse impact on Syria was minimal.
Thanks perhaps to the US warning to Russia, it appears Syrian officials anticipated the attack on their air base and moved their equipment and personnel. News reports say that the same airbase was used by Syria to launch further attacks against its own people. So, it appears that it cost the US more to launch the strike than it cost Syria.
Not to be cynical about Trump's motives, but Syrians, including “beautiful babies,” have been dying in the civil war for years regardless of the means used to killed them. Trump was indifferent to the plight of Syrians until the chemical attack, to the point of wanting to ban Syrian refugees’ entry into US.
Trump and the country will do well to remember Eisenhower’s warning against the military industrial complex. At what point is defense spending enough?
London Review of Books had an article, “The Most Expensive Weapon Ever Built,” on the F-35 jet. With drones being increasingly used, the article wondered, “how much future there is in piloted warplanes.”
The article concluded, “The business of the arms industry is to build and spend, build and spend.” Win-win for defense industry, but not for taxpayers.
All the launching of Tomahawk missiles did was to make us feel “righteous,” as you put it. The adverse impact on Syria was minimal.
Thanks perhaps to the US warning to Russia, it appears Syrian officials anticipated the attack on their air base and moved their equipment and personnel. News reports say that the same airbase was used by Syria to launch further attacks against its own people. So, it appears that it cost the US more to launch the strike than it cost Syria.
Not to be cynical about Trump's motives, but Syrians, including “beautiful babies,” have been dying in the civil war for years regardless of the means used to killed them. Trump was indifferent to the plight of Syrians until the chemical attack, to the point of wanting to ban Syrian refugees’ entry into US.
Trump and the country will do well to remember Eisenhower’s warning against the military industrial complex. At what point is defense spending enough?
London Review of Books had an article, “The Most Expensive Weapon Ever Built,” on the F-35 jet. With drones being increasingly used, the article wondered, “how much future there is in piloted warplanes.”
The article concluded, “The business of the arms industry is to build and spend, build and spend.” Win-win for defense industry, but not for taxpayers.
21
Since Trump became a candidate, I disagreed with every word out of Trump's mouth because most of the words are lies and bluster. However, I sensed he was sincere when he expressed horror at what Assad had done. I even agreed with the air strike.
His sincerity about caring for the "beautiful babies" deaths will eventually reveal itself when he changes his attitude toward the Syrian refugees.
His sincerity about caring for the "beautiful babies" deaths will eventually reveal itself when he changes his attitude toward the Syrian refugees.
1
I don't doubt the sincerity of Trump's horror at the horrific chemical attack, but am concerned/disappointed that it takes something like that to move him.
I don't want to make light of the situation, but every day Syrians' face unpleasant choices similar to what Sen. Graham said of the choice between Trump and Cruz: "It's like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?" Except, of course, it is literally their lives, not an election or whom to vote for.
The same Sen. Graham, incidentally, now compares Trump to Reagan. All it took was firing a few missiles for Graham to do a 180. What a shame!
I don't want to make light of the situation, but every day Syrians' face unpleasant choices similar to what Sen. Graham said of the choice between Trump and Cruz: "It's like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?" Except, of course, it is literally their lives, not an election or whom to vote for.
The same Sen. Graham, incidentally, now compares Trump to Reagan. All it took was firing a few missiles for Graham to do a 180. What a shame!
72
Mr. Blow may well be right, but this has been an issue since Woodrow Wilson took America into the Great War in 1917 in order to make the world safe for democracy.
What we are lacking is a set of rules to guide us on when America should intervene in another country for reasons other than self defense.
What we are lacking is a set of rules to guide us on when America should intervene in another country for reasons other than self defense.
6
What did we expect from the reality TV President? His ratings were down.
27
The decision to attack a country which has not posed any threat to the USA requires a careful consideration and Trump has showed no evidence that he is capable of careful consideration.
11
No wisdom living in this administrations White House.
5
Mr. Blow should be ecstatic since Trump merely implements the policy of his predecessor, a man so admired by Mr. Blow.
3
Had this been another Rwanda, where we did nothing, should we do nothing again? We should do nothing in South Sudan?
Russia does not want war, they want spheres of influence. They want Syria for the same reason we want Israel; strategically placed footholds and handholds. A global tug-o-war.
Russia does not want war, they want spheres of influence. They want Syria for the same reason we want Israel; strategically placed footholds and handholds. A global tug-o-war.
4
Djt simply engaged a plot twist to boost his sagging show ratings - um, er, poll numbers - in a 180 degree reversal of policy from earlier in the week.
Conveniently, it was timed as Congress (and much of media) leaves town for 2 weeks for Passover/Easter, has lots of great film shots from the decks of Navy ships, and bumps off the front pages the fiasco of Devin Nunes, his ex-aide working as a White House staffer, and the cooked-up ' unmasking ' report - which Nunes explained from the White House driveway had been briefed to Paul Ryan before Nunes ran back to 1600 Penn to tell him what he'd seen.
Meantime, back at the ranch - er, um, White House - as djt watches Faux Noise Machina to see how to boost his ratings, factions battle over whether the Goldman Sachs crowd or the Mercer hedgies contingent will run things.
But soon, another weekend will arrive, and - golf.
Conveniently, it was timed as Congress (and much of media) leaves town for 2 weeks for Passover/Easter, has lots of great film shots from the decks of Navy ships, and bumps off the front pages the fiasco of Devin Nunes, his ex-aide working as a White House staffer, and the cooked-up ' unmasking ' report - which Nunes explained from the White House driveway had been briefed to Paul Ryan before Nunes ran back to 1600 Penn to tell him what he'd seen.
Meantime, back at the ranch - er, um, White House - as djt watches Faux Noise Machina to see how to boost his ratings, factions battle over whether the Goldman Sachs crowd or the Mercer hedgies contingent will run things.
But soon, another weekend will arrive, and - golf.
23
Dear Charles,
The comment published in NYT is interesting.
Your argument is unclear.
You seem to imply that war is an activity discussed as a fire side chat encompassing that those engaged in such an activity are the sanitation workers of a lower moral class.
This week is the anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Next week is ANZAC day.
Perhaps Google.
Before drafting your next opinion open a newspaper and have a dekko at these stories:
KABUL, Afghanistan — An American Special Forces soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan during a joint operation with Afghan forces against affiliates of the Islamic State, officials said on Sunday. NYT dated 9 April 2017.
Further:
WASHINGTON — The commander of the American-led international military force in Afghanistan, warning that the United States and its NATO allies are facing a “stalemate,” told Congress on Thursday that he needed a few thousand additional troops,” Gen. John W. Nicholson said in a sober assessment of America’s longest war to the Senate Armed Services Committee . NYT By MICHAEL R. GORDON FEB. 9, 2017
"We are then already in waist-deep. We have to make an impossible choice: stay and try to fix what we broke or abandon it and watch our nightmares multiply.Nobility of the crusade is consumed by the quagmire."
You views are respected but I suggest you review them before placing them before an international readership.
An Australian
The comment published in NYT is interesting.
Your argument is unclear.
You seem to imply that war is an activity discussed as a fire side chat encompassing that those engaged in such an activity are the sanitation workers of a lower moral class.
This week is the anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Next week is ANZAC day.
Perhaps Google.
Before drafting your next opinion open a newspaper and have a dekko at these stories:
KABUL, Afghanistan — An American Special Forces soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan during a joint operation with Afghan forces against affiliates of the Islamic State, officials said on Sunday. NYT dated 9 April 2017.
Further:
WASHINGTON — The commander of the American-led international military force in Afghanistan, warning that the United States and its NATO allies are facing a “stalemate,” told Congress on Thursday that he needed a few thousand additional troops,” Gen. John W. Nicholson said in a sober assessment of America’s longest war to the Senate Armed Services Committee . NYT By MICHAEL R. GORDON FEB. 9, 2017
"We are then already in waist-deep. We have to make an impossible choice: stay and try to fix what we broke or abandon it and watch our nightmares multiply.Nobility of the crusade is consumed by the quagmire."
You views are respected but I suggest you review them before placing them before an international readership.
An Australian
3
Ditto
An American
An American
President Trump showed he was not an empty suit like Barak Obama. Assad has run boldly for several years and this never should have happened.
13
If there was ever an empty, albeit billowing empty suit, that would be 45's suit. Obama had the kind of class that 45 could only wish for, and walked instead of shambled about, but walked like a man. Sad.
4
Many atrocities should never have happened.
1
No. Obama went to Congress and was DENIED approval to use military force in Syria. You prefer an empty head to an empty suit?
4
An even worse case scenario? This was all Theater choreographed by Putin to distract from the all important investigations.
32
Mr. Blow, You mention President Bush's supposed "lie" over weapons of mass destruction, but what of President Obama's own "lie," in which he claimed that weapons of mass destruction (poison gas) has been removed from Syria (in a fake deal with the Russians)? This is what necessitated President Trump's decisive and humanitarian action.
10
Not very humanitarian to bar those very children from the safety of our country.
7
His strike killed nine civilians, four were children. It was not humanitarian - it was a distraction from the quagmire of lies and international interference in whose center he resides.
Not true. President Obama went to Congress to request permission for military action in Syria and was DENIED. Then he brokered a deal with Russia to remove and destroy chemical weapons in Syria. APPROVE.
Trump fired off some missiles (he owns stock in Raytheon, manufacturers of Tomahawks-stocks immediately went up!) in Syria - which amounted to nothing but a talking point and accolades from Republicans. Hypocrisy, much?
Trump fired off some missiles (he owns stock in Raytheon, manufacturers of Tomahawks-stocks immediately went up!) in Syria - which amounted to nothing but a talking point and accolades from Republicans. Hypocrisy, much?
1
Trump had 60 missile strikes for Assad`s chemical weapons attach on innocent lives with include children yet he barred same refugees entering in his own Country does not make any sense of his thinking process.
What is worrisome is this a spur of the moment decision because Donald Trump who has limited knowledge of World History thought he should do that instantly.
No approval from congress necessary.
What will come next ?
What is worrisome is this a spur of the moment decision because Donald Trump who has limited knowledge of World History thought he should do that instantly.
No approval from congress necessary.
What will come next ?
21
One of the wisest and most far-sighted things Obama did was to resist the mainstream foreign policy establishment's insistence that the US try to depose Assad, a bad guy, just as was done with very bad results in Iraq and Libya. Insanity means doing the same thing over and over and forgetting how it didn't work the other many times it was done. We are desperately in need of new ideas, as the same awful scenario is now getting launched in Yemen as well, with US munitions in Saudi hands being rained down on schools and weddings. The outcome will be a Middle East as an ungovernable zone of anarchy with waves of refugees and a terrorist plague.
25
America's position in Syria must be a balancing act. We cannot support a victory by the forces that oppose Assad because that would likely put ISIS in power. We cannot give Assad (and his patron Putin) a blank check either.
Operation Blow Up Some Asphalt was necessitated because Trump's words made Assad feel he had tacit US support to do whatever he wanted. He decided to gas his own people. The "president" responded emotionally to the horrible images he watched on Fox-Official-State-TV and, in this case, his emotion, undoubtedly tempered by wise military advice, ended up in an appropriate response. Rex Tillerson is now using appropriate language with Russia too.
In isolation, the Trump Administration's response to the use of poison gas by Assad has been entirely appropriate and is exactly what the Obama Administration should have done, including not asking for Congressional approval, when the poorly drawn red-line was crossed.
So, the "president" did something right despite himself. I can acknowledge that even as I still hope to see him impeached, tarred and feathered.
Operation Blow Up Some Asphalt was necessitated because Trump's words made Assad feel he had tacit US support to do whatever he wanted. He decided to gas his own people. The "president" responded emotionally to the horrible images he watched on Fox-Official-State-TV and, in this case, his emotion, undoubtedly tempered by wise military advice, ended up in an appropriate response. Rex Tillerson is now using appropriate language with Russia too.
In isolation, the Trump Administration's response to the use of poison gas by Assad has been entirely appropriate and is exactly what the Obama Administration should have done, including not asking for Congressional approval, when the poorly drawn red-line was crossed.
So, the "president" did something right despite himself. I can acknowledge that even as I still hope to see him impeached, tarred and feathered.
64
I can agree with many of your points, but not his failure to get Congressional approval. Our Constitution is the foundation of our national existence. And when the President becomes powerful enough to act outside the Constitution, we have a problem.
A house without a solid foundation can not stand.
A house without a solid foundation can not stand.
6
Once again we abuse the Constitution. Who has the responsibility to declare war? Attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war, just or unjust as it may be. Claiming that Obama "should" have ignored Congress and attacked Syria instead makes the claim for extra-Constitutional authority for the President. Is that what we really want in an already powerful executive?
Obama has accepted responsibility for his rash declaration of a red line without fully thinking through how the end game could play out. He's also proud he didn't attack Syria based on Congressional indifference and numerous blowhards declaring he would be impeached if he acted thus.
I think your sentiment is not well thought out.
Obama has accepted responsibility for his rash declaration of a red line without fully thinking through how the end game could play out. He's also proud he didn't attack Syria based on Congressional indifference and numerous blowhards declaring he would be impeached if he acted thus.
I think your sentiment is not well thought out.
Whenever there is a military adventure, someone, somewhere should ask, "And then what?"
16
I think you left out a word:
"......tucked one inside the other like [Russian] nesting dolls."
"......tucked one inside the other like [Russian] nesting dolls."
14
Silly Charles.
You're missing the fundamental right-wing nihilistic point that has Made America Great.
"We're #1 !"
In military violence, gun violence, healthcare extortion and the war tail wagging the Presidential Dog.
Americans love fireworks displays, the bigger and dumber the better.
George W Bush's 2003 'Shock and Awe' fireworks display was a massive hit in America's fake heartland, a neat and tidy 'Mission Accomplished' episode by another mentally impaired American President marketed and branded by the right-wing Confederacy of Right-Wing Dunces that set the Middle East on permanent fire for the bargain price of $3 or $4 trillion dollars and counting.
Our current mentally impaired American President understands very little EXCEPT for marketing and branding, and with his Syria fireworks display, Donald Trump has effectively 'purchased' a $100 million ad spot with other people's (taxpayers') money to make the Impotent-In-Chief appear 'potent' amid a failing so-called 'presidency'.
If there's one thing Trump's Fake News Nation understands, it's a televised flag-waving session with dumb fireworks in the background crowned with faux concern about 'God's children' coming out of a prevaricating preacher's mouth.
Oh, thank you, Father Trump, for leading Syria's children and America's mental midgets to 'free-dumb'.
Meanwhile, Assad has brushed off Trump's pinprick, and Syria's Suicide Airlines is back in business flying the terrorist skies.
"We're #1" in collapsed IQs.
You're missing the fundamental right-wing nihilistic point that has Made America Great.
"We're #1 !"
In military violence, gun violence, healthcare extortion and the war tail wagging the Presidential Dog.
Americans love fireworks displays, the bigger and dumber the better.
George W Bush's 2003 'Shock and Awe' fireworks display was a massive hit in America's fake heartland, a neat and tidy 'Mission Accomplished' episode by another mentally impaired American President marketed and branded by the right-wing Confederacy of Right-Wing Dunces that set the Middle East on permanent fire for the bargain price of $3 or $4 trillion dollars and counting.
Our current mentally impaired American President understands very little EXCEPT for marketing and branding, and with his Syria fireworks display, Donald Trump has effectively 'purchased' a $100 million ad spot with other people's (taxpayers') money to make the Impotent-In-Chief appear 'potent' amid a failing so-called 'presidency'.
If there's one thing Trump's Fake News Nation understands, it's a televised flag-waving session with dumb fireworks in the background crowned with faux concern about 'God's children' coming out of a prevaricating preacher's mouth.
Oh, thank you, Father Trump, for leading Syria's children and America's mental midgets to 'free-dumb'.
Meanwhile, Assad has brushed off Trump's pinprick, and Syria's Suicide Airlines is back in business flying the terrorist skies.
"We're #1" in collapsed IQs.
449
hey gemli please stop double spacing taking up more space is kinda like shouting instead of speaking in a normal voice
1
It seems we have forgotten when Saddam moved into Kuwait it followed a comment from H.W.'s ambassador to Iraq that the U.S. didn't have a problem with him going into Kuwait. So he did. It looked bad for Bush so he changed his mind and went to war.
Same thing now. Tifllerson and Haley both said we were going to leave Assad alone and he goes rogue and uses chemicals.
Or, Putin and t rump cooked the whole thing up to take our eyes of the prize of Russian interference in our democracy
Same thing now. Tifllerson and Haley both said we were going to leave Assad alone and he goes rogue and uses chemicals.
Or, Putin and t rump cooked the whole thing up to take our eyes of the prize of Russian interference in our democracy
3
Thank you for you acute insight. I always feel enlightened when I read your comments. Isn't this what this section should be about? Listening to each other. I appreciate your thoughts.
1
It's all a build up. He's going to find a war, even if has to invent one. He's looking for a Tonkin Gulf incident. Then here we go again. Gottta love those draft dodgers.
148
everybody read or reread fulbrights "pentagon propaganda machine"
2
The military should only be used as a last resort. Having a strong military is essential to peace, only because the threat of its use can bring adversaries to the negotiating table and get them to actually live by the deals that are made. The problems come when, as in the Iraq War, it was obviously the first choice of the administration.
Now, with Trump, who is dangerously gutting our State Department, the use of military force has multiple possible reasons, none of them good.
Most likely, he is using this one off attack both as a distraction from the investigations into his love affair with Putin, an as a demonstration that he is not in love. The fact that almost all headlines and stories were about the attack, and most of them positive, does not bode well as to what lesson he will learn from that. On the second point, giving the Russians (and thus the Syrians) a heads up before the attack made it completely ineffective. The Syrians were up an flying from there within a day and it could not look more like an action that colluded with Russia to give both leaders a talking point about the lack of friendship in our relationship.
Actions speak louder than words, so watch the actions. Thanks again, Mr. Blow, for keeping on point against our amoral so called leader.
Now, with Trump, who is dangerously gutting our State Department, the use of military force has multiple possible reasons, none of them good.
Most likely, he is using this one off attack both as a distraction from the investigations into his love affair with Putin, an as a demonstration that he is not in love. The fact that almost all headlines and stories were about the attack, and most of them positive, does not bode well as to what lesson he will learn from that. On the second point, giving the Russians (and thus the Syrians) a heads up before the attack made it completely ineffective. The Syrians were up an flying from there within a day and it could not look more like an action that colluded with Russia to give both leaders a talking point about the lack of friendship in our relationship.
Actions speak louder than words, so watch the actions. Thanks again, Mr. Blow, for keeping on point against our amoral so called leader.
25
We can and should beware of politicians waving the bloody flag to justify a foreign adventure or to distract the American public from domestic failures.
We should also be careful not to paint with too large of a brush by likening dissimilar situations.
A fair comparison of the missile attack by President Trump on Syria to the initiation of war by George W. Bush against Iraq and Saddam Hussein requires the conclusion that the Bush/Cheney action under the lie of “weapons of mass destruction” was much worse.
Let us remember that George H.W. Bush had neutralized Saddam and had wisely avoided the neo-con thirst for regime change. We need also recall that the vague WMD term by the Bush son intentionally caused Americans to believe nuclear weapons were involved.
The abrupt reversal of strategy by President Trump, resulting in a missile attack on Syrian sites which manufactured sarin gas and launched aircraft to rain that gas on Syrian civilians, may have spawned by coldly cynical, political motives.
The reversal may have been an impulsive, emotional response to video of suffering Syrian children.
Whatever the motivation, an argument can be made that the missile launch was appropriate, as long as it is not now used to justify a prolonged military campaign for regime change in Syria.
There was NO lie – the sarin gas existed and was used.
We should also be careful not to paint with too large of a brush by likening dissimilar situations.
A fair comparison of the missile attack by President Trump on Syria to the initiation of war by George W. Bush against Iraq and Saddam Hussein requires the conclusion that the Bush/Cheney action under the lie of “weapons of mass destruction” was much worse.
Let us remember that George H.W. Bush had neutralized Saddam and had wisely avoided the neo-con thirst for regime change. We need also recall that the vague WMD term by the Bush son intentionally caused Americans to believe nuclear weapons were involved.
The abrupt reversal of strategy by President Trump, resulting in a missile attack on Syrian sites which manufactured sarin gas and launched aircraft to rain that gas on Syrian civilians, may have spawned by coldly cynical, political motives.
The reversal may have been an impulsive, emotional response to video of suffering Syrian children.
Whatever the motivation, an argument can be made that the missile launch was appropriate, as long as it is not now used to justify a prolonged military campaign for regime change in Syria.
There was NO lie – the sarin gas existed and was used.
1
The attack on Syria was a military version of a tweet. In less than three months, he has graduated from tweets to cruise missiles, and has discovered this produces applause, distraction and a ratings bump. Gee, wonder where this will lead. Yes, as always, there are dangerously immoral people out there with frightening power. But, never before has one become our President.
130
War has to have a goal, an endgame. It has to have something that can be called "post-war."
When there is no way to determine what is post-war, all you have is a permanent occupation or a quagmire. In Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in Syria, we have no definition of post-war. We leave, and the Taliban oozes back, warlords plant poppies and central government struggles and loses chunks of territory, Sectarian disputes permeate new countries, and the fighting continues.
We haven't gone into Syria, because we cannot define how to get out. The complications of Syrian fighting being a proxy war for different groups in the region, the lack of a base government for people to return to, the overall instability of the region, complicate the Syrian conflict. What is winning?
We are not weary of war, we are weary of perma-war. Of expensive, un-winnable conflicts that continue misery but don't reduce it; of collapsed governments that exist in a vacuum that is filled by the Taliban, or ISIS or another crooked despot.
When the end result of interfering is "You break it; you take it" staying out of conflict is reasonable.
When there is no way to determine what is post-war, all you have is a permanent occupation or a quagmire. In Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in Syria, we have no definition of post-war. We leave, and the Taliban oozes back, warlords plant poppies and central government struggles and loses chunks of territory, Sectarian disputes permeate new countries, and the fighting continues.
We haven't gone into Syria, because we cannot define how to get out. The complications of Syrian fighting being a proxy war for different groups in the region, the lack of a base government for people to return to, the overall instability of the region, complicate the Syrian conflict. What is winning?
We are not weary of war, we are weary of perma-war. Of expensive, un-winnable conflicts that continue misery but don't reduce it; of collapsed governments that exist in a vacuum that is filled by the Taliban, or ISIS or another crooked despot.
When the end result of interfering is "You break it; you take it" staying out of conflict is reasonable.
299
This was predicted: permanent war for permanent peace. Today's friend is tomorrow's enemy, until no one can remember how or when it began.
This business began in 1918 with European mapmaking and the crucial pivot point was what we did in Tehran, 1953. All the rest is our chickens coming home to roost. In the meantime, Butler was right: war is a racket, and many men, and a handful of women, are much richer for it all. We'll throw $60m of useless missiles into a Middle East country without blinking, at the same time we speak of cutting Meals on Wheels for not producing any benefit. How wonderful to live in a Christian nation.
This business began in 1918 with European mapmaking and the crucial pivot point was what we did in Tehran, 1953. All the rest is our chickens coming home to roost. In the meantime, Butler was right: war is a racket, and many men, and a handful of women, are much richer for it all. We'll throw $60m of useless missiles into a Middle East country without blinking, at the same time we speak of cutting Meals on Wheels for not producing any benefit. How wonderful to live in a Christian nation.
True. At the same time, the elimination of ISIS is a post war objective. I read recently about the conference held by 67 nations on the issue of ISIS. What I don't understand is why that many countries are being held back by some terrorist group with about 40,000 (maybe less now) amateur soldiers? Why doesn't the coalition go in there and finish this? I understand that ISIS will then "morph" into different cells and go back to terrorism but they are already doing that. Now that you have tens of thousands of adherents in one place, it's time to put them in jail or if they fight, kill them.
When was the last US president who did not start a war?
1
Jimmy Carter (1976-1980).
6
Off the top of my head: neither Carter nor Obama started wars. Clinton, too, started no war. Certainly, all three have military assisted mischiefs to own, but no wars.
2
War always has been and will always be a political weapon.
We have zero national interests at stake in Syria.
This military strike is an example of Trump wagging the dog.
It will not change either the fate of Syrians or the fate of Trump.
We have zero national interests at stake in Syria.
This military strike is an example of Trump wagging the dog.
It will not change either the fate of Syrians or the fate of Trump.
24
Trump's attack on Syria was pure telegenic 'shock and awe.'
It worked for George W. Bush. Trump knew it would work for him.
What's we know is Trump has a most simplistic world view, with each decision politically based. As he watches ample television, zeroing in coverage of himself.
It wasn't until television coverage of Assad's use of chemical weapons referenced it as a monstrosity that Trump acted.
59 Tomahawk missiles?
As breaking news, TV's Brian Williams let loose a poet's quote as to the horror of war--with missiles "beautiful," and "I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons."
Not stopping there, he continued --- "beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments making what for them a brief flight over to this airfield."
Then other news pundits claimed 'never have there been better generals' in the history of America. The fawning coverage? Nectar to Donald Trump.
Along with high fives from an inner circle, striving to smooth away his fears of failure, or worse---his irrelevance.
Military action as an end to a means to an end---to at least become "a war president." The similarities to G.W. Bush are striking.
It worked for George W. Bush. Trump knew it would work for him.
What's we know is Trump has a most simplistic world view, with each decision politically based. As he watches ample television, zeroing in coverage of himself.
It wasn't until television coverage of Assad's use of chemical weapons referenced it as a monstrosity that Trump acted.
59 Tomahawk missiles?
As breaking news, TV's Brian Williams let loose a poet's quote as to the horror of war--with missiles "beautiful," and "I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons."
Not stopping there, he continued --- "beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments making what for them a brief flight over to this airfield."
Then other news pundits claimed 'never have there been better generals' in the history of America. The fawning coverage? Nectar to Donald Trump.
Along with high fives from an inner circle, striving to smooth away his fears of failure, or worse---his irrelevance.
Military action as an end to a means to an end---to at least become "a war president." The similarities to G.W. Bush are striking.
20
I can't recall the contributor to CNN's endless discussion on this attack, but he was describing, with hand motions, how tomahawk missiles would fly under Syrian radar, following land contours. My first thought was, "It's General Torgeson". (from Dr. Strangelove)
1
Ah, General Buck Turgison describing how "if you have a good pilot, he'll go in so low it will burn the feathers off the chickens" and also " Now I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but we''d only have 20 million killed here, 20 million tops."
Orwellian, complete with Orwell's timeless novel's descriptive passages of gigantic televisions broadcasting night and day, carrying state propaganda to the masses.
3
"Our thumb is on the scale..." Yes, but our foot was already on it. The CIA has been arming the so-called moderate rebels since the conflict in Syria began. And let's not pussyfoot around the real stakes in Syria: Assad "had to go" when he nixed the pipeline from Qatar and chose instead a route from Iran. It's the same old story, a fight for oil (and gas) and money. It's always what's behind our "humanitarian" wars. Tillerson (Exxon-Mobil) is just the man for the job. Trump gets his approvals up, and big oil gets the spoils. That's called a win-win.
10
@ ricly Brooklyn - I'm with you and my comment accepted 45 min before yours is pointing less directly at the same things. Back in 1988 Ronald Reagan and company were right there when Saddam Hussein sent his planes to Halabja to kill Iranian troops that had crossed the Iran-Iraq border and to kill Kurds in very large numbers. Probably deep down all about oil.
And as concerns that last sentence. I actually have a close friend born in the Arabic speaking part of Iran (Abadan) where the Brits came long ago to set up a big oil industry. The friend deserted from the Iranian army crossing the border into Iraq south of Halabja and miraculously being picked up and put into a UN refugee center when the war ended. Came to Sweden and has spent many years educating me about the oil industry history of the Abadan region.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
And as concerns that last sentence. I actually have a close friend born in the Arabic speaking part of Iran (Abadan) where the Brits came long ago to set up a big oil industry. The friend deserted from the Iranian army crossing the border into Iraq south of Halabja and miraculously being picked up and put into a UN refugee center when the war ended. Came to Sweden and has spent many years educating me about the oil industry history of the Abadan region.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
the strike was what it said it was...a slap back at the use of chemical weapons, intended to stop their deployment from the base that was hit and to warn the perpetrators that deployment from there and elsewhere might be met with the same response...it was not intended (to address mr blow's correct concern about "unintended consequences") to destroy the airfield (which senator mccain advocated with his "crater the runway" notion, which craters, if the runways were the target, could be filled easily and, so, his "crater them again" would require to a second strike, an entirely different matter).
the problem now seems rather the poor diplomatic effort than the military strike...ambassador
haley's scolding of the russians, instead of a more measured suggestion that russia reconsider its own actions in light of its investment in mutually shared goals, rather a "c'mon now, we can and must do better" tease than the harsh and potentially humiliating (and so self-righteous)
shove...mitch mcconnell's sly, "maybe the russians were taken in by the syrians" is better in this regard...the slap, 59 cruise missiles, was clean, "self-congratulatory war speeches and thrusting of pom-poms of our politicians and pundits..." as mr blow suggests, only clouds the message, in effect becoming rather a strike in itself than a call to substantive action...the unintended consequence here may be provocation, face-saving resistance, when collaboration is the diplomatic objective.
the problem now seems rather the poor diplomatic effort than the military strike...ambassador
haley's scolding of the russians, instead of a more measured suggestion that russia reconsider its own actions in light of its investment in mutually shared goals, rather a "c'mon now, we can and must do better" tease than the harsh and potentially humiliating (and so self-righteous)
shove...mitch mcconnell's sly, "maybe the russians were taken in by the syrians" is better in this regard...the slap, 59 cruise missiles, was clean, "self-congratulatory war speeches and thrusting of pom-poms of our politicians and pundits..." as mr blow suggests, only clouds the message, in effect becoming rather a strike in itself than a call to substantive action...the unintended consequence here may be provocation, face-saving resistance, when collaboration is the diplomatic objective.
2
The question not asked: "Based on what you know or have read, would you send your children to Syria to fight Assad, his allies, and ISIS .
Yes, use of chemical weapons is deplorable, illegal, and immoral, but this is Syria, once home to 10+M people who have left, and over 400K who have been killed, mostly through conventional means.
Other than reveling in our randomness and wanting to look strong, what is it that we have accomplished?
Yes, use of chemical weapons is deplorable, illegal, and immoral, but this is Syria, once home to 10+M people who have left, and over 400K who have been killed, mostly through conventional means.
Other than reveling in our randomness and wanting to look strong, what is it that we have accomplished?
14
Let us not forget the "Shock and Awe" to begin the Iraq war in 2003. It was like we were being treated to a primetime show. After our great victory, remember George W Bush landed on a Navy warship like a conquering hero. Of that was then, this is now.
10
Charles, if Trump launched these missiles on Syria for purely humanitarian grounds, he could get every Americans' blessings.
But a president who asked Congress to give him $54 billion more beside the $680 billion that Congress already approved, makes us think who is behind Trump's demand of a huge increase in our military budget.
It's the goddamn M.I.C. which had been controlling almost all our presidents since president Eisenhower.
President Kennedy was the first and only victim of this act of refusal to kowtow to the Arms industry.
Remember 'grassy knoll in Delaney plaza, anyone ?
That's where the four shots came from to kill Kennedy on November 23,1963.
So reading all these chilling accounts of how far our Military-Industrial complex will go to control our presidents, one can assume that our current president whose campaign was partly financed by the M.I.C. would ask for a huge increase to our military budget when our world is more peaceful than ever before.
And as we know now that the stock prices of the manufacturer of tomahawk missiles which costs $60 million each,has gained nearly $5 billion in market value overnight, one has to wonder whether Trump was motivated by seeing the faces of children dying from Sarin gas or was it the payback time to the big donors from the M.I.C.
And as per a CNN report that said the Syrian air base where all 59 missiles were lobbed, was fully functional within 24 hours, one has to wonder if it was just to boost Trump's popularity.
But a president who asked Congress to give him $54 billion more beside the $680 billion that Congress already approved, makes us think who is behind Trump's demand of a huge increase in our military budget.
It's the goddamn M.I.C. which had been controlling almost all our presidents since president Eisenhower.
President Kennedy was the first and only victim of this act of refusal to kowtow to the Arms industry.
Remember 'grassy knoll in Delaney plaza, anyone ?
That's where the four shots came from to kill Kennedy on November 23,1963.
So reading all these chilling accounts of how far our Military-Industrial complex will go to control our presidents, one can assume that our current president whose campaign was partly financed by the M.I.C. would ask for a huge increase to our military budget when our world is more peaceful than ever before.
And as we know now that the stock prices of the manufacturer of tomahawk missiles which costs $60 million each,has gained nearly $5 billion in market value overnight, one has to wonder whether Trump was motivated by seeing the faces of children dying from Sarin gas or was it the payback time to the big donors from the M.I.C.
And as per a CNN report that said the Syrian air base where all 59 missiles were lobbed, was fully functional within 24 hours, one has to wonder if it was just to boost Trump's popularity.
9
Bush's war in Iraq was based on lies about WMDs and about how quick it would be with shock and awe and how it would pay for itself. There was no good military outcome for an invading force: democracy cannot be forced on people and nations with diverse histories, cultures and religions.
Many of the same people and media supported the Iraq War as are cheering Trump now. Wat mongering is not a solution for very complex problems across the globe. In Syria the players include Sunnis and Shia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and al-Quaeda and ISIS. Do war hungry Republicans want to find US troops fighting on the same side as ISIS and al-Quaeda? Or leaving another vacuum for such forces to move into and create power centers? This is in part a sectarian war that has gone on for generations. What American interests are served there? What is the policy? What are the parameters? How much money and how many lives is the US willing to lose?
Syria has not attacked us. Trump is denying the most desperate and suffering Syrians and their children refugee status. This was an impulsive move in part due to the atrocity of the chemical attack, although a much larger scale similar attack in 2013 resulted in Republican indifference and strong opposition when Pres. Obama wanted to respond militarily.
Incoherence is not a policy but it can lead to future wars in the Middle East at great cost to America.
Many of the same people and media supported the Iraq War as are cheering Trump now. Wat mongering is not a solution for very complex problems across the globe. In Syria the players include Sunnis and Shia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and al-Quaeda and ISIS. Do war hungry Republicans want to find US troops fighting on the same side as ISIS and al-Quaeda? Or leaving another vacuum for such forces to move into and create power centers? This is in part a sectarian war that has gone on for generations. What American interests are served there? What is the policy? What are the parameters? How much money and how many lives is the US willing to lose?
Syria has not attacked us. Trump is denying the most desperate and suffering Syrians and their children refugee status. This was an impulsive move in part due to the atrocity of the chemical attack, although a much larger scale similar attack in 2013 resulted in Republican indifference and strong opposition when Pres. Obama wanted to respond militarily.
Incoherence is not a policy but it can lead to future wars in the Middle East at great cost to America.
293
Every time I turn around the hypocrisy of the Republicans is laid bare for all to see. Yet these dishonorable and dishonest men continue to "rule" and get elected. Why is that?
1
We the public should be wary of ANY of Trump's decisions. He is transparently self-concerned at every turn. He does not have an altruistic bone in his body. W would not have had a second turn if he did not create a war and feed the beast of hyper-patriotism. Shame on the Republican Congress that hamstrung President Obama's attempts to do something in Syria. NOW it's okay?!?
Let's get real. Trump does not know where Syria is on the map. He wants "credit" for being "presidential." He makes W look mature.
Let's get real. Trump does not know where Syria is on the map. He wants "credit" for being "presidential." He makes W look mature.
13
I am not sure "decision" is the correct word for the things Trump does. "Reaction" seems like a better choice.
3
Mr. Blow is right in pointing out how politically-expedient (on varied aspects) the bombing of the Syrian airbase was for president Trump and his administration. However, we should be careful not to throw the just baby of a necessary international humanitarian intervention with the bloody waters of past fake- humanitarian invasions and military operations.
I suggest the four rules of Just International Intervention should be: A. Never exaggerate the severity of the situation to be ameliorated in order to justify a military intervention. B. Never act in such a way that the civil population which is to be saved is put in harm's way in order to provide unqualified security for the Intervening force. C. Never intervene unless it can be positively proved that's it's not about geostrategic hegemony, strategic dominance or economic profits. D. Provide enough “boots on the ground” and civilian resources in order to ensure and safe-guard the democratic process of changing the evil regime which was toppled.
Was a just international intervention possible in Syria and is there a chance for it yet? My answer is that a coordinated American-Russian effort -- including military actions and clandestine operations -- in order to stop Assad’s regime from launching a war on large sections of the civilian population and prevent the Jihadists factions from taking control of large parts of Syria was diplomatically and strategically possible – it’ll be much harder now, if possible at all.
I suggest the four rules of Just International Intervention should be: A. Never exaggerate the severity of the situation to be ameliorated in order to justify a military intervention. B. Never act in such a way that the civil population which is to be saved is put in harm's way in order to provide unqualified security for the Intervening force. C. Never intervene unless it can be positively proved that's it's not about geostrategic hegemony, strategic dominance or economic profits. D. Provide enough “boots on the ground” and civilian resources in order to ensure and safe-guard the democratic process of changing the evil regime which was toppled.
Was a just international intervention possible in Syria and is there a chance for it yet? My answer is that a coordinated American-Russian effort -- including military actions and clandestine operations -- in order to stop Assad’s regime from launching a war on large sections of the civilian population and prevent the Jihadists factions from taking control of large parts of Syria was diplomatically and strategically possible – it’ll be much harder now, if possible at all.
49
The concept of a "coordinated American-Russian effort" has always been a farce and an excuse for greater Russian military involvement in Syria.
Putin is amoral and is only interested in Soviet naval bases on the Mediterranean and expanding Soviet influence in the Mideast.
Putin is amoral and is only interested in Soviet naval bases on the Mediterranean and expanding Soviet influence in the Mideast.
4
Mr. Richter,
Provided Putin is only interested in Mediterranean naval bases and a Mideast foothold (Unlike American presidents which have only noble values for their guidance), it would’ve been more possible to trade Russian control of the Latakia region with a Russian agreement for a gradual phasing out of the Assad’s regime.
Provided Putin is only interested in Mediterranean naval bases and a Mideast foothold (Unlike American presidents which have only noble values for their guidance), it would’ve been more possible to trade Russian control of the Latakia region with a Russian agreement for a gradual phasing out of the Assad’s regime.
No deal with Russia can be trusted as long as Putin is in power. The deal to remove all chemical weapons from Syria is a prime example.
1
This Ponzi-President will launch diversionary tomahawks at whim ... shock and awe revisited. Does anyone recall how well that worked out?!?
9
I agree with Charles Blow this morning. A tempered response is called for. Escalating more war in the Middle East is not wisdom. It does feed the profits of war, and a false self-righteousness, considering the U.S. is involved in its cause. Seymour Hersch has exposed much but it has not been widely understood by the public, the real machinations behind this war. Welsely Clark was interviewed on Democracy Now and the premeditated plan by the Pentagon for the Middle East should have made it clear to everyone exactly how corrupt the whole adventure in the Middle East is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSL3JqorkdU and http://www.globalresearch.ca/did-presidential-candidate-hillary-clinton-...
Let's get out of there and put our efforts into alternative solutions to our energy demands. This is not how we should be solving those problems.
Let's get out of there and put our efforts into alternative solutions to our energy demands. This is not how we should be solving those problems.
8
I am not sure if ths is a charade. How this conspiratorial thinker imagine that a back channel agreement was followed by Tomahawk strike of a few runways followed by Putin's former friend Tillerson going to Moscow. Now if Tillerson sellls out the Ukrainians I know it was a put up job.
6
It is my greatest hope that the media, all of it, can stop its congratulations for Trump, and his admiration of his knee-jerk aggression, and report these events as it should have reported what led up to our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
We can't be living this all over again!
We can't be living this all over again!
21
Bravo, Mr. Blow, Bravo. The truth is so difficult to find these days.
16
So much concern about the innocent from a man who views bombing an airfield as a humanitarian response, but who views food aid to the starving in Africa or Meals on Wheels to the elderly in America as a waste of resources. The money spent to replace those missiles would save a lot more lives than the 0 lives saved by attacking an airfield. The lesson that will be learned from this: the biggest winner will be the rising poll numbers for Trump. Certainly motivation to repeat this type of activity. And can you imagine the political gains to be had by risking American service members? Finally some real meat for the hungry base.
17
Maybe if the former President and former Secretary of State wouldn't have been suckered ...bragging about the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria as recently as this past January was typical of the Obama administration.
This isn't political. This was torture and murder of innocent children and shame on Obama, Kerry and Susan Rice for bragging!
This isn't political. This was torture and murder of innocent children and shame on Obama, Kerry and Susan Rice for bragging!
5
Even though The Republican President is broken he is bound to get something right every now and then. A broken watch gets the time right twice a day and The Republican President is hoping to do as well. If only he could be right twice a day.
Trump cares nothing about Syria's children. He still refuses to allow them into our country.
Trump is a total fraud who loves war. We need to know how much stock he has in the Pentagon war machine too, since he never takes any action if he personally doesn't benefit.
Trump is a total fraud who loves war. We need to know how much stock he has in the Pentagon war machine too, since he never takes any action if he personally doesn't benefit.
17
Thank you Charles for a column chock full of wisdom. I fear there will be a bump in Trump's approval ratings and he will become the monkey choosing the quick fix over policy... "War makes my hair look better".
12
There is so much to fear about this "follow the shiny object" president. Nations unfriendly to the United States can trigger events under the guise of terrorism to lead this president in different directions. It's alarming to think how many innocent lives will be put in jeopardy as these political neophytes struggle to separate reality from fiction. America and the international stage just feel so much less safe to me today.
454
So right! Shock and Awe him back to the black tower from whence he came ... and slam the door tightly shut on the demonic cabinet of kleptocratic miscreants he has surrounded himself with.
6
Tim, have you not yet wondered if Vladimir did not himself pull the string on this particular shiny object, whether the Orange Embarrassment was not ordered, or just manipulated, splashing into what he, and others, think is just shallow water?
1
One must question very seriously any move made by Trump. All he cares about is himself - his enrichment and his bottomless pit of desire for adulation. This was a purely political move to distract from his shortcomings, his low ratings and his very likely impeachable behavior. He cares nothing about the Syrian people. His statements about "beautiful babies" rings hollow. He is a phony and a hypocrite.
Trump is ignorant of history and does not believe in experience, knowledge or diplomacy, He does not read, he does not listen to anyone but himself and he does not understand the Constitution and the separation of powers. Most critically, he is erratic, impulsive and temperamentally unstable. Yet this man is now the head of our armed forces. The implications of his knee jerk bombing were not thought out and after our long, drawn out war in Iraq, Americans have little tolerance for another expensive, unwindable and disastrous war. It is blatantly obvious that this war will be far more dangerous for us and the world, given Russia and Iran on the other side. Trump has no plan or strategy. Hillary was fiercely criticized for her war hawkishness, and now we have a full reverse from Trump.
This "so-called" President is ruining our country, our democracy and our government as well as our standing in the world and our security at light speed.
Trump is ignorant of history and does not believe in experience, knowledge or diplomacy, He does not read, he does not listen to anyone but himself and he does not understand the Constitution and the separation of powers. Most critically, he is erratic, impulsive and temperamentally unstable. Yet this man is now the head of our armed forces. The implications of his knee jerk bombing were not thought out and after our long, drawn out war in Iraq, Americans have little tolerance for another expensive, unwindable and disastrous war. It is blatantly obvious that this war will be far more dangerous for us and the world, given Russia and Iran on the other side. Trump has no plan or strategy. Hillary was fiercely criticized for her war hawkishness, and now we have a full reverse from Trump.
This "so-called" President is ruining our country, our democracy and our government as well as our standing in the world and our security at light speed.
981
The bombing was as well thought out as the Muslim bans and the revision to the ACA. Three times he has shown us that he acts in haste. We may all have reason to repent at leisure.
3
HB...Thanks for your clarity in this crucial time. At 80 and since a Stroke, I have neither the depth nor words, but I'm grateful for your response and clarity in the presence and power of this "President" and Pretense.
2
Yes but "This so-called President.." is the one and only President of the United States of America for the 54% of Americans who did not vote for him.
Unless and until Trump is removed by impeachment and trial, the 25th Amendment, God/Mother Nature's mortal judgment or the American people moving on to evict/imprison their temporary elected hired help.
Unless and until Trump is removed by impeachment and trial, the 25th Amendment, God/Mother Nature's mortal judgment or the American people moving on to evict/imprison their temporary elected hired help.
3
in recent history, it often creates a vacuum where one bad man can be replaced by even worse men.
This illustrates how and why regime change often fails in its intended purpose. Personalizing a conflict is usually a mistake. Punishing wrong doing is a better tactic than punishing the wrong doer.
That's why attacking the air fields is better than attacking Assad.
Saddam Hussein'a translators son, in an interview,
Recalled that Saddam had often confided in the translator that he was actually a pretty nice but that if he weren't brutally strong, other brutes would displace him in a flash, of gunfire, and carry on the brutality themselves.
This illustrates how and why regime change often fails in its intended purpose. Personalizing a conflict is usually a mistake. Punishing wrong doing is a better tactic than punishing the wrong doer.
That's why attacking the air fields is better than attacking Assad.
Saddam Hussein'a translators son, in an interview,
Recalled that Saddam had often confided in the translator that he was actually a pretty nice but that if he weren't brutally strong, other brutes would displace him in a flash, of gunfire, and carry on the brutality themselves.
6
Quick! Look over there! See those darling children killed by their own president? You don't need to see my tax returns. You don't need to look into the business conflicts of my family and myself. You don't need to investigate whether my campaign talked to Putin's people to rig the election. Instead watch me teach that bad hombre Assad a lesson. Cock-a-doodle-do!
118
The one absolute certainty is that every U.S.military intervention in the Middle East leads to unforeseen, negative events, which are compounded by American incompetence, and are worse than the initial problem. Reagan ordering marines into Beirut, the decision to depose Qaddaffi in Libya, and our egregious decisions to dissolve the Iraq army and de Ba'athify the government of Iraq, which directly led to the rise of ISIS, are horrific examples of the unintended consequences of U.S. interventions.
38
One has to wonder what keeps us doing the same thing over and over. Why are not our government "experts" pointing out the foibles of our continual mistakes in the Middle East to the President and the NSC? Is it really true that on 9/11 the State Department had more certified Danish speakers than those who had mastered Arabic? If so, who ordered the decimation of the Arabic speaking foreign service officers? That's an interesting question: who was behind the sharp cutbacks in Arabic language training at the Foreign Service Institute?
6
"shares of weapons manufacturers, as soon as they began trading Friday, were “collectively gaining nearly $5 billion in market value.”
A peace tax should be imposed on all military hardware both when first sold and again when used. The funds could be administered by a joint board of NGOs like the International Rescue Committee.
A peace tax should be imposed on all military hardware both when first sold and again when used. The funds could be administered by a joint board of NGOs like the International Rescue Committee.
17
"The temptation to unleash America’s massive war machine is seductive and also addictive. Put that power in the hands of a man like Trump, who operates more on impulse and intuition than intellect, and the world should shiver."
Indeed. Nothing in Trump's background or previous work shows any indication that his views about foreign policy are anything but cartoonish. Oh yes, he has an opinion on anything even if said opinion can do a 360 within the hour. Moreover, nothing in his background says he's ready to do the heavy lifting of foreign policy beyond a quick TV summary.
We've had impulsive, capricious presidents before, as well as overly thoughtful ones trapped in Hamlet-like darkness, but as far as I know, this is the first president who spurns his daily intelligence briefs.
Can the US really be happy if $60 million is spent on a symbolic act that did nothing to change the dynamic in Syria? Was this ripple enough to warn the world that we now have a "tough guy" in charge?
A certain child-despot in North Korea is being warned, for sure, as a Navy strike ship heads towards the Korean peninusula. So yes, Charles, " The problem comes when the initial glow dims and darkness descends" as it surely will in many parts of the globe that might tempt this president to intemperate action.
I hope Donald Trump doesn't now view military action as just an extension of his tweets.
Indeed. Nothing in Trump's background or previous work shows any indication that his views about foreign policy are anything but cartoonish. Oh yes, he has an opinion on anything even if said opinion can do a 360 within the hour. Moreover, nothing in his background says he's ready to do the heavy lifting of foreign policy beyond a quick TV summary.
We've had impulsive, capricious presidents before, as well as overly thoughtful ones trapped in Hamlet-like darkness, but as far as I know, this is the first president who spurns his daily intelligence briefs.
Can the US really be happy if $60 million is spent on a symbolic act that did nothing to change the dynamic in Syria? Was this ripple enough to warn the world that we now have a "tough guy" in charge?
A certain child-despot in North Korea is being warned, for sure, as a Navy strike ship heads towards the Korean peninusula. So yes, Charles, " The problem comes when the initial glow dims and darkness descends" as it surely will in many parts of the globe that might tempt this president to intemperate action.
I hope Donald Trump doesn't now view military action as just an extension of his tweets.
62
I continue to hope that someone reads Charles Blow's columns to Donald Trump and to Stephen Bannon.
13
Many purposes indeed. There is no apparent strategy and most Trump actions seem both arbitrary and capricious. Oh, but there IS a strategy - domestic approval will rise and THAT is the theme. Russia holds the IOU's and gains most when Trump gains domestic clout. Note "that no Russian soldiers were harmed in the making of this film" - err this show of strength and moral resolve.
6
"temper the self-congratulatory war speeches and thrusting of pom-poms"
You might as well be asking Trump to change his name to Smith
You might as well be asking Trump to change his name to Smith
7
"Donald Trump has turned his back on pretty much everything he has ever said about United States military involvement in Syria"
Donald Trump has turned his back on just about everything he has ever said about anything.
Just sayin.
Donald Trump has turned his back on just about everything he has ever said about anything.
Just sayin.
16
"A US aircraft carrier-led strike group is headed toward the Western Pacific Ocean near the Korean Peninsula......"
Can Trump be so mentally and morally sick that he would unleash a military action to distract from all the negative news and entanglement with Russia? I think most Americans already know the answer to that question. I do.
Trump is the most dangerous human on the planet right now. And with the largest military arsenal in the world at his disposal I forsee more ahead of what just occurred in Syria if he thinks it will gain him political advantage.
Can Trump be so mentally and morally sick that he would unleash a military action to distract from all the negative news and entanglement with Russia? I think most Americans already know the answer to that question. I do.
Trump is the most dangerous human on the planet right now. And with the largest military arsenal in the world at his disposal I forsee more ahead of what just occurred in Syria if he thinks it will gain him political advantage.
21
Learn from this comparison, here a skeleton.
March 16, 1988 Iraq under Saddam Hussein carries out a large scale chemical warfare attack on all who found themselves in Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan and in the area extending to the nearby Iranian border.
April 4, 2017 Syrian source carries out chemical warfare attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
What was/is known with confidence about? Short answers for March 16, 1988
1. The planes involved Iraqi military
2. The death and injury toll 1000s
3. Who ordered the attack Saddam Hussein via Chemical Ali
4. Was the US involved Yes Reagan government fully aware in advance
and gave passive support 5. Reasons for the attack To kill Iranian troops that had reached Halabja
and to kill Kurds
6. Actions taken after attack US announced that the source was Iran. This
was false. No action taken against Saddam
Hussein after truth revealed.
Provide the same for Khan Sheikhoun. Then discuss the political, military, and moral positions of the US government.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US Se
March 16, 1988 Iraq under Saddam Hussein carries out a large scale chemical warfare attack on all who found themselves in Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan and in the area extending to the nearby Iranian border.
April 4, 2017 Syrian source carries out chemical warfare attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
What was/is known with confidence about? Short answers for March 16, 1988
1. The planes involved Iraqi military
2. The death and injury toll 1000s
3. Who ordered the attack Saddam Hussein via Chemical Ali
4. Was the US involved Yes Reagan government fully aware in advance
and gave passive support 5. Reasons for the attack To kill Iranian troops that had reached Halabja
and to kill Kurds
6. Actions taken after attack US announced that the source was Iran. This
was false. No action taken against Saddam
Hussein after truth revealed.
Provide the same for Khan Sheikhoun. Then discuss the political, military, and moral positions of the US government.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US Se
Larry-- I'd be more concerned about that terrorist attack in Sweden that killed 4 people instead of rehashing ancient history about Iraq and Saddam Hussein if I were you. See? Even peaceful Sweden isn't safe anymore.
3
@ Sharon5101 It does not surprise me that you feel that way based on reading you fairly often and on your replies to me. I appreciate replies and in my ideal NYT comment world it is replies that are important since they are beginnings of discussions.
You go too far in assuming - apparently - that since I write about 1988 I cannot be devoting time and thought to 2017 in Sweden. Before writing about Sweden, the reason a few of us point back to 1953, 1988, and a few more dates is that we were actively involved in shaping the enormous unsolvable problems in the ME in 2017.
Yes a man who had not been granted asylum - recently - is responsible for the death of 4 innocent people. By coincidence 4 young people were killed a few days ago while on a school trip in a bus. Thinking about these two events with the same number of dead might lead to discussion.
But Sharon, I have a suggestion for you. A dual citizen Sweden-Israel author has a 3 part series given to me by my sister in law in Göteborg. I recommend part 1 - see Amazon or other -Bridges Going Nowhere by Ilay Meyer. I know the areas in Göteborg where the actions take place very well. The book is a page turner about Sweden if things get even worse. We go back and forth between Israel and Sweden.
And do you watch the Israeli series Hostages which we see here on public play TV. A thriller and there if I understand it, the villains are themselves Israelis.
Thanks for the reply.
L
You go too far in assuming - apparently - that since I write about 1988 I cannot be devoting time and thought to 2017 in Sweden. Before writing about Sweden, the reason a few of us point back to 1953, 1988, and a few more dates is that we were actively involved in shaping the enormous unsolvable problems in the ME in 2017.
Yes a man who had not been granted asylum - recently - is responsible for the death of 4 innocent people. By coincidence 4 young people were killed a few days ago while on a school trip in a bus. Thinking about these two events with the same number of dead might lead to discussion.
But Sharon, I have a suggestion for you. A dual citizen Sweden-Israel author has a 3 part series given to me by my sister in law in Göteborg. I recommend part 1 - see Amazon or other -Bridges Going Nowhere by Ilay Meyer. I know the areas in Göteborg where the actions take place very well. The book is a page turner about Sweden if things get even worse. We go back and forth between Israel and Sweden.
And do you watch the Israeli series Hostages which we see here on public play TV. A thriller and there if I understand it, the villains are themselves Israelis.
Thanks for the reply.
L
1
No can't say I've ever heard of Hostages and I doubt it would be too popular with a Jewish audience. I think Jews have had enough as being portrayed as history's convenient villains. It never ends well for us.
Anyhow all I'm trying to point out is that Saddam and Chemical Ali are long gone. Digging up their skeletons doesn't solve today's newest problems in a whole other dysfunctional Middle East nation.
Anyhow all I'm trying to point out is that Saddam and Chemical Ali are long gone. Digging up their skeletons doesn't solve today's newest problems in a whole other dysfunctional Middle East nation.
1
Oh, Charles, get a grip.
Nobody, least of all Trump, suggests that America is about to “unleash America’s massive war machine” in Syria or anywhere else. But, consider: we’ve tolerated truly tectonic changes to the open ways we once enjoyed by measures to protect us from the predations of pathetic specimens seeking to bring down planes with explosives tucked into their unmentionables. Imagine Sarin gas pumped into a Metropolitan Opera performance. The U.S. most certainly DOES have vital security interests involved in preventing and deterring “the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons”. Trump’s recent actions were targeted, proportional and (here’s what REALLY irks Charles) wildly popular in America and around the world.
We have a mensch in the White House again. I can understand how that concerns Charles (and Krugman, for that matter). But their better argument is that being right in Syria doesn’t automatically guarantee that Trump is right on taxes and regulation. All you do by attacking his actions against Assad is emphasize the fact that you speak from the wilderness – and in a sad and increasingly desperate voice, at that.
$60 million to replace the cruise missiles used against Assad? Are you kidding? That wouldn’t buy a standard 3000-mile oil change for our imposing free cheese factories. Besides, if we don’t use them in a good cause now and then, how do we KNOW that Raytheon isn’t just filling them with illegal aliens and charging us about $1 million a pop?
Nobody, least of all Trump, suggests that America is about to “unleash America’s massive war machine” in Syria or anywhere else. But, consider: we’ve tolerated truly tectonic changes to the open ways we once enjoyed by measures to protect us from the predations of pathetic specimens seeking to bring down planes with explosives tucked into their unmentionables. Imagine Sarin gas pumped into a Metropolitan Opera performance. The U.S. most certainly DOES have vital security interests involved in preventing and deterring “the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons”. Trump’s recent actions were targeted, proportional and (here’s what REALLY irks Charles) wildly popular in America and around the world.
We have a mensch in the White House again. I can understand how that concerns Charles (and Krugman, for that matter). But their better argument is that being right in Syria doesn’t automatically guarantee that Trump is right on taxes and regulation. All you do by attacking his actions against Assad is emphasize the fact that you speak from the wilderness – and in a sad and increasingly desperate voice, at that.
$60 million to replace the cruise missiles used against Assad? Are you kidding? That wouldn’t buy a standard 3000-mile oil change for our imposing free cheese factories. Besides, if we don’t use them in a good cause now and then, how do we KNOW that Raytheon isn’t just filling them with illegal aliens and charging us about $1 million a pop?
5
"Trump's recent actions were targeted, proportional and..wildly popular in America..."
No they weren't, it was READY, FIRE, AIM and it almost certainly wasn't Trump's idea because he seems incapable of independent thought.
"We have a mensch in the White House again"
Seriously? According to Wikipedia, a mensch is "a person of integrity and honor" and Trump is severely lacking in both traits. And to imply that Obama lacked either is not supported by the observable facts.
I respect your right to speak up for Emperor Trump but at least try to cheer lead for him on things that aren't patently wrong.
No they weren't, it was READY, FIRE, AIM and it almost certainly wasn't Trump's idea because he seems incapable of independent thought.
"We have a mensch in the White House again"
Seriously? According to Wikipedia, a mensch is "a person of integrity and honor" and Trump is severely lacking in both traits. And to imply that Obama lacked either is not supported by the observable facts.
I respect your right to speak up for Emperor Trump but at least try to cheer lead for him on things that aren't patently wrong.
31
"Mensch " in the White House? I have heard nothing more ridiculous in years.
30
The Trump apologist is back and once again expecting to be taken seriously.
What do you base "wildly popular" on? "Mixed reaction" is the truth. Even that is a step up from his string of failures.
Barack Obama engineered a diplomatic solution the last time that held off chemical attacks for several years. No it wasn't permanent or perfect, but this certainly isn't, either. And Trump desperately hopes it will change the conversation from his failures and lack of ethics.
And re the " mensch" point: you defame the term. Instead of governing, he's still trying to defend his election, hundreds of positions are unfilled, the staff is fighting and Trump solves it by installing totally unqualified family members into power.
Next Trump failure: no wall. Even Tom Kelly said as much last week.
Tiresome.
What do you base "wildly popular" on? "Mixed reaction" is the truth. Even that is a step up from his string of failures.
Barack Obama engineered a diplomatic solution the last time that held off chemical attacks for several years. No it wasn't permanent or perfect, but this certainly isn't, either. And Trump desperately hopes it will change the conversation from his failures and lack of ethics.
And re the " mensch" point: you defame the term. Instead of governing, he's still trying to defend his election, hundreds of positions are unfilled, the staff is fighting and Trump solves it by installing totally unqualified family members into power.
Next Trump failure: no wall. Even Tom Kelly said as much last week.
Tiresome.
25
5he first thing I did when I heard was go to YouTube and play some Phil Ochs. It's always the old who lead us to a war, always the young to fall.
13
There is a little known "extra" verse to Och's Power and Glory. More people are finding it and singing it these days:
But our land is still troubled by men who have to hate
They twist away our freedom and they twist away our fate
Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry
We can stop them if we try
Phil Ochs is sorely missed
But our land is still troubled by men who have to hate
They twist away our freedom and they twist away our fate
Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry
We can stop them if we try
Phil Ochs is sorely missed
11
And yet the media couldn't wait to get in line to toss those pom poms. You would think that a man who, according to Politifact, lies to the media a whopping 70% of the time, would be a little more skeptical and a little less naive when it came to the motivations of these actions. Both he and Putin must be assumed to be con men at this point so everything, and I mean everything, they say and do must be taken with a grain of salt. Two con men pretending to be enemies in order to continue the con hasn't been a new idea since I saw the movie "The Sting".
35
This is a very thoughtful and pointed article. I feel we should have resisted the temptation to be the world's moral caretaker. An impulsive strike, followed by nothing is nothing. The reality is that Syria is seen as the lost cause that it is. No one really wants to be involved. This war will end when the "rebels" or ISIS or whoever the enemy is, give up, which may be never. Frankly, this was a softball thrown to the man, who has done nothing right to look big and strong, rather than weak and puny. By now, though, we know that this man is only out to make money, and with this action, he believes, he has done both, when it is only the latter, putting money in someone's swollen pockets that has actually been achieved. It is a weak move because it is an isolated event in a non-policy and non-plan. All of America, though, should examine their own thoughts about what Mr. Blow is really saying, and how it is that popularity rises when we have identified an external enemy, apparently no matter how weak or non-threatening, which is really the only thing that unifies us as a country. It is the same dynamic that is at work in sick families and should not be pursued.
23
A cats craddle of interconnected filaments where one motion of movement has a cascade effect. The ability to predict the outcome of complex systems in game theory or Tiddlywinks for tots?
Me thinks 45 is more at home with Tiddlywinks.
Me thinks 45 is more at home with Tiddlywinks.
6
Looks like Obama was duped by Assad and by Russia, and Bashar did not appear to have gotten rid of all his CW arsenal or of his means of reproducing them. Obama drew a red line[ Bashar breached it by using CW on his own citizens, and got away with a treaty signed with gullible Barack.
Looks like Assad got emboldened again, and tried using CW on citizens in rebel-held territory. He was testing the waters, and got an appropriate response. It was a warning shot fired and if he persists, there should be consequences.
Having said so, there should be consequences if he kills his people with barrel bombs as well. I would imagine that the administration is secretly working on regime change.
Obama's inaction contributed to the refugee crisis the world is facing with Syrians knocking on their doors. If it were not for 8 years of klutzy, feckless Obama administration, the world would be in a much better shape.
Looks like Assad got emboldened again, and tried using CW on citizens in rebel-held territory. He was testing the waters, and got an appropriate response. It was a warning shot fired and if he persists, there should be consequences.
Having said so, there should be consequences if he kills his people with barrel bombs as well. I would imagine that the administration is secretly working on regime change.
Obama's inaction contributed to the refugee crisis the world is facing with Syrians knocking on their doors. If it were not for 8 years of klutzy, feckless Obama administration, the world would be in a much better shape.
6
Trump's actual foreign policy: "I'm flexible. I'm very flexible. I take pride in my flexibility. It's my great strength. It's my flexibility that's a great inspiration to other world leaders. Other leaders--friends and foes--soon will be just as unbalanced and unhinged as me. Some say I have no foreign policy but flexibility is a great foreign policy--greatest policy ever. People love it."
7
So Charles do you believe in "Never Again"? Or don't you? Are we as humans not obligated to come to the help of those in need? Bill Clinton said his greatest regret was not doing anything about Rwanda. And one of his biggest successes was stopping the genocide in Kosovo. I realize that Obama was so focused on "No stupid wars" and was timid with international affairs. It doesn't make it right just because Obama did it. Obama could have intervened with no boots on the ground way before Russia set up a base in Syria and way before ISIS even grabbed a foothold in Syria. The uprising in 2011 was an organic rebellion against 41 years of Assad family rule and it was by native moderate Syrians. All it needed was a push. Missing that opportunity was so misguided and shameful and so costly in human life and misery.
Now, there's still opportunity for stopping Assad's murderous Air Force. And setting up ethnic enclaves and safe zones. That's what Trump mentioned during his campaign. So did of course Hillary Clinton (for whom I voted).
Your preference to do nothing is more than "indelicate". It's heartless. Syria has a lot of factions but there's clear evil doer: Assad. He wants to thin out his Sunni population and he treats them as cannon fodder. Like it or not, the civilized world looks to the US for direction. Are you saying the right answer is to sit this out? We've done that for six years now. Charles, does "Never Again" only apply to atrocities in Europe?
Now, there's still opportunity for stopping Assad's murderous Air Force. And setting up ethnic enclaves and safe zones. That's what Trump mentioned during his campaign. So did of course Hillary Clinton (for whom I voted).
Your preference to do nothing is more than "indelicate". It's heartless. Syria has a lot of factions but there's clear evil doer: Assad. He wants to thin out his Sunni population and he treats them as cannon fodder. Like it or not, the civilized world looks to the US for direction. Are you saying the right answer is to sit this out? We've done that for six years now. Charles, does "Never Again" only apply to atrocities in Europe?
5
Why does the US need a clearly articulated strategy for Syria? Why?
Do we expect any other country to use military force to help us in our own country? Under what conditions? When could that possibly happen?
The Middle East is a quicksand trap for which there was never and will never be an exit strategy that is in our National Interest. We have still not recovered from the Iraq War. Worse, getting involved in such an arrogant way is exactly what the terrorists want. Their stated goal is to get the West on their turf in order to drag us into endless economy, morale, civilization destroying war.
We can only pray that this was just a slap on the wrist to Assad.
Do we expect any other country to use military force to help us in our own country? Under what conditions? When could that possibly happen?
The Middle East is a quicksand trap for which there was never and will never be an exit strategy that is in our National Interest. We have still not recovered from the Iraq War. Worse, getting involved in such an arrogant way is exactly what the terrorists want. Their stated goal is to get the West on their turf in order to drag us into endless economy, morale, civilization destroying war.
We can only pray that this was just a slap on the wrist to Assad.
9
It worked, didn't it?
Are we reading still about collusion and treason?
If this strike was truly in defiance of Putin, which I still have my doubts, I would expect some Moscow hotel room videos to start surfacing soon.
If this was in tandem with Putin, keep an eye peeled for theatrics from both sides.
We are all on pins and needles waiting for Trump to bumble us into a war. I thought it would be with Nordstrom, but hey...Syria will do.
Are we reading still about collusion and treason?
If this strike was truly in defiance of Putin, which I still have my doubts, I would expect some Moscow hotel room videos to start surfacing soon.
If this was in tandem with Putin, keep an eye peeled for theatrics from both sides.
We are all on pins and needles waiting for Trump to bumble us into a war. I thought it would be with Nordstrom, but hey...Syria will do.
16
Without confirmation of the entire basis for this action (Assad shooting himself in the foot by using chemical weapons? really?), this attack serves only provocation, Mr. Trump's approval ratings, and as others have pointed out, expenditure of a lot of tax dollars. Americans have a very very short memory of the quagmire that is Iraq and how it got to be such a mess. It seems that the moment those armaments go up into the air, the knee-jerk is always to support the drumbeats for war. Will we ever mature as a society? — recognize that testosterone-fueled aggression was fine for the survival of our species 100 K yrs ago, when we were competing for survival with other hominins, but no longer serves us in a high-tech, highly interconnected world?
15
The column cites an array of possible motives and dangers, but the one factor that glares through most urgently is Donald Trump's impulsiveness.
How much this affair interests the military-industrial complex, I can't guess. How great the risk of getting into a quagmire, I can't calculate. Trump could continue to take Bill Clinton's immaculate approach of intervening with stand-off weapons, especially if his true aim is to make occasional impressions on the American people and on foreign leaders. That, in fact, is what worries me most at the moment: the likelihood that the irrepressible Donald Trump will, without any sense of commitment, turn from his habit of rash speech to a habit of rash action.
The last thing we need is for our Mr. Toad to lose interest in tweeting and become an airstrike enthusiast.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/
How much this affair interests the military-industrial complex, I can't guess. How great the risk of getting into a quagmire, I can't calculate. Trump could continue to take Bill Clinton's immaculate approach of intervening with stand-off weapons, especially if his true aim is to make occasional impressions on the American people and on foreign leaders. That, in fact, is what worries me most at the moment: the likelihood that the irrepressible Donald Trump will, without any sense of commitment, turn from his habit of rash speech to a habit of rash action.
The last thing we need is for our Mr. Toad to lose interest in tweeting and become an airstrike enthusiast.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/
20
Gen.Petraeus(sp), on Fareed Zakaria Sunday implied that the US should advance in the long run by taking charge in Syria, when Assad is gone, and run the country in splintered groups!
We stopped watching cable TV a long time ago.
I was appalled at the praise heaped upon Trump for his grandstanding action by none other than John McCain, Hillary Clinton and other members of the house and senate. Even more appalled by their condemnation of President Obama for wisely refusing to involve the U.S. in the Syrian civil war.
Let us finally admit that Donald Trump is a dangerous menace to the safety of the U.S. on an equal or worse basis than George W.'s lying about WMD's resulting in a 10 year Iraq battle for which we are still paying an unacceptable price.
Let us finally admit that Donald Trump is a dangerous menace to the safety of the U.S. on an equal or worse basis than George W.'s lying about WMD's resulting in a 10 year Iraq battle for which we are still paying an unacceptable price.
312
McCain, Clinton and other members of the House and Senate are acknowledging the fact that 8 years of feckless, incompetent foreign policy are now behind us.
2
Of course ALL of Obama's prior actions will be cast in the poorest light by the trumpters, while any of trump's that bear the slightest resemblance to sanity will be treated as the evidence of his and his trumpters' ultimate wisdom.
How silly and dangerous....
Our Democracy fails to the direct extent that we are silly and stupid people, unworthy of the great power and role that history and fate and the efforts of so many have gifted us with....
Maybe it's inevitable.... but sad..., very, very sad, nonetheless...
How silly and dangerous....
Our Democracy fails to the direct extent that we are silly and stupid people, unworthy of the great power and role that history and fate and the efforts of so many have gifted us with....
Maybe it's inevitable.... but sad..., very, very sad, nonetheless...
17
This is Trump's "Wag the dog" moment. He saw an opportunity to unleash a few missiles and all of a sudden his approval rating kicks into high gear.
Syria, and for that matter, the entire Middle East is a mess ever since the colonial powers left the scene. America has inherited this region and has been trying to midwife, not once but many times, a peaceful set of state actors without much success.
The problems are deep and intractable and the solutions are few and hidden. Only a person with deep knowledge can even attempt to remedy this mess, and Trump does not seem to be that person. To him this is a show of power, an extension of the bully in personal matters now at the global level. He is least interested in resolution.
Syria, and for that matter, the entire Middle East is a mess ever since the colonial powers left the scene. America has inherited this region and has been trying to midwife, not once but many times, a peaceful set of state actors without much success.
The problems are deep and intractable and the solutions are few and hidden. Only a person with deep knowledge can even attempt to remedy this mess, and Trump does not seem to be that person. To him this is a show of power, an extension of the bully in personal matters now at the global level. He is least interested in resolution.
20
Charles, this was predictable, but as an apologist for Obama you chose not to mention that his inability to react to chemical weapons attacks in the past led us to last Thursday.
4
Charles you continue to be the only journalist here and on TV , who hasn't rolled over dead on trumps idiotic , manipulative decisions that are an attempt to get attention off the treason he and his cabinet of corporates continue to commit with the full approval of our treasoness congress and judicial.
Why do I ..., a retired nurse see the demise of rationality and the digression toward a renewed war that sends our young middle class children back into this Middle East Blackstone war factory. ??
I keep calling my Ct, representatives. And they are not listening!!!!!!!!!
2018 ..... Ha. By then we will be under Marshall Law.
Forget the " voting Booth".
Humans .... So dumb , so evil.
Our better angels are in hiding !!
National work stoppage! Any young people out here with tech savvy to hashtag a movement to strike big time at the heart of capatilism.
Just remember trump and congress will send the military to kill us when we actually do rise up against this military - industrial complex that is bringing us toward a nuclear winter ! And not even bloody 100 days in office ! List his treasoness behavior!!!
Why do I ..., a retired nurse see the demise of rationality and the digression toward a renewed war that sends our young middle class children back into this Middle East Blackstone war factory. ??
I keep calling my Ct, representatives. And they are not listening!!!!!!!!!
2018 ..... Ha. By then we will be under Marshall Law.
Forget the " voting Booth".
Humans .... So dumb , so evil.
Our better angels are in hiding !!
National work stoppage! Any young people out here with tech savvy to hashtag a movement to strike big time at the heart of capatilism.
Just remember trump and congress will send the military to kill us when we actually do rise up against this military - industrial complex that is bringing us toward a nuclear winter ! And not even bloody 100 days in office ! List his treasoness behavior!!!
110
Senator Bennett from Colorado was one of the four democrats opposed to a filibuster and I was expecting him to vote to confirm Gorsuch. He got a lot of calls, including from us, and it looks like that helped to change his mind. He voted No.
Some of our representatives are listening.
Some of our representatives are listening.
4
I agree wholeheartedly except I believe it is the poor minorities who end up fighting these endless wars.
A modest proposal: In return for their prison sentence, non-violent prisoners can enlist (perhaps have I.Q tested) and serve 2 years in our endless wars. Just think--solve social security and medicare problems when endless soldiers get killed. Since we are sending immigrants back, our population will be greatly reduced and the 1% will get even more money.
A modest proposal: In return for their prison sentence, non-violent prisoners can enlist (perhaps have I.Q tested) and serve 2 years in our endless wars. Just think--solve social security and medicare problems when endless soldiers get killed. Since we are sending immigrants back, our population will be greatly reduced and the 1% will get even more money.
Mark Twain on war.
3
One of his most amazing writings and not allowed to be published until after his death. Should be a must read for all.
There are wise observers who do NOT take the word of US neocons and those they have bamboozled into believing their propaganda that the chemical weapons/gas attacks were in fact used by the ASSAD government. Rather they point to others who have such weaponry in their possession - as well as to the way in which the US usually begins its wars against others - remembering Iraq and the so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction supposedly possessed by Saddam HUSSEIN - as well as almost any other war from the latter part of the 20th century now into the 21st century perpetrated by the US. This paranoia of the US re Syria, re Russia means that cool rational analysis is side-lined as jingoistic "patriotism" is given a holy righteousness - no other views tolerated. That time though always comes - some time down the track!
10
To quote Edwin Starr:
“War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, why y’all
War, huh, good god
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing, listen to me…”
“War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, why y’all
War, huh, good god
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing, listen to me…”
14
Although the Assad attack did need a response, a quick blaze of guns will not achieve anything. The US needs a clearly articulated strategy about how they see the future of Syria and then build an alliance to work towards that aim.
The people of Syria deserve our support, particularly in the light of the fact that the Western World has given such a level of support to the Assad regime over the decades. But the surest way not to achieve a goal, is not to have one.
The people of Syria deserve our support, particularly in the light of the fact that the Western World has given such a level of support to the Assad regime over the decades. But the surest way not to achieve a goal, is not to have one.
7
Thank you Charles. We never seem to learn, do we?
47
The President Throws a Hail Mary From The Mediterranean
Hail Mary full of tomahawk missiles
The joints chiefs of staff,
the national security agency,
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
Are with you and me
Blessed art thou among travel bans,
unaffordable health care failures,
unsubstantiated tweets about wiretapping
and fake news concerning Russians,
blessed is the fruit of the
Military industrial complex
To inflate my poll numbers
Pray for us dealmakers
Now and at the hour of
Our impeachment . Amen.
Hail Mary full of tomahawk missiles
The joints chiefs of staff,
the national security agency,
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
Are with you and me
Blessed art thou among travel bans,
unaffordable health care failures,
unsubstantiated tweets about wiretapping
and fake news concerning Russians,
blessed is the fruit of the
Military industrial complex
To inflate my poll numbers
Pray for us dealmakers
Now and at the hour of
Our impeachment . Amen.
26
The attack will have been warranted if it brings about regime change.
Here, I mean.
Here, I mean.
668
Best comment yet!
4
To use one of President Trump's favorite introductory phrases, "Some people are saying":
This missile strike was of virtually no military significance, and its symbolism is open to a wide variety of interpretations by friends and foes alike. It is by no means a policy statement.
The strike, at a minimum, cost the U.S. taxpayers something like $70,000,000. This may be chump change to the Pentagon, but it would cover the basic travel and security costs for about 23 of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago getaways. (Does anyone no the total costs--including expenses for accompanying staff, for communications set ups, etc.?)
The policy of having no consistent policy is itself a policy, and frequently the worst of all.
President Trump as a business man, as a candidate and now as president has a history, of using misinformation and misdirection to further his own primarily self-serving ends. He has shredded his credibility. Is it any wonder that many suspect that the missile strike was chiefly motivated by Trump's desire to deflect attention from his other numerous problems?
We are now aboard the U.S./U.S.S. Caine, with President Trump/Lt. Commander Queeg at the helm.
Perhaps our congressional representatives, especially the few remaining "moderate" Republicans, should take a cue from the crew of the U.S.S. Caine.
What's the Twenty-Fifth Amendment for, if not for a situation like this?
This missile strike was of virtually no military significance, and its symbolism is open to a wide variety of interpretations by friends and foes alike. It is by no means a policy statement.
The strike, at a minimum, cost the U.S. taxpayers something like $70,000,000. This may be chump change to the Pentagon, but it would cover the basic travel and security costs for about 23 of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago getaways. (Does anyone no the total costs--including expenses for accompanying staff, for communications set ups, etc.?)
The policy of having no consistent policy is itself a policy, and frequently the worst of all.
President Trump as a business man, as a candidate and now as president has a history, of using misinformation and misdirection to further his own primarily self-serving ends. He has shredded his credibility. Is it any wonder that many suspect that the missile strike was chiefly motivated by Trump's desire to deflect attention from his other numerous problems?
We are now aboard the U.S./U.S.S. Caine, with President Trump/Lt. Commander Queeg at the helm.
Perhaps our congressional representatives, especially the few remaining "moderate" Republicans, should take a cue from the crew of the U.S.S. Caine.
What's the Twenty-Fifth Amendment for, if not for a situation like this?
105
Syrian chemical attack =No evidence=Nothing happened.
4
"This is why we would all do well to temper the self-congratulatory war speeches and thrusting of pom-poms of our politicians and pundits, some of whom hypocritically opposed the use of military force by President Obama following an even worse chemical attack in Syria in 2013."
Mr. Obama combined his military inaction re the previous chemical attack with a deal brokered between the US, Russia and Syria that was supposed to rid Syria of its chemical warfare potential.
Apparently that was not the case. Either the US was played from the beginning or Mr. Assad acquired a new stash or whatever. The idea that one can sign such an agreement with such little faith is what is most disturbing.
If the US, its leaders, say they are weary and want to stay out, fine. But to say that one stays out and then accomplishes the same through diplomacy which fails, that is unacceptable and just makes one look foolish.
Mr. Trump took action. To where it leads, time will tell.
Mr. Obama combined his military inaction re the previous chemical attack with a deal brokered between the US, Russia and Syria that was supposed to rid Syria of its chemical warfare potential.
Apparently that was not the case. Either the US was played from the beginning or Mr. Assad acquired a new stash or whatever. The idea that one can sign such an agreement with such little faith is what is most disturbing.
If the US, its leaders, say they are weary and want to stay out, fine. But to say that one stays out and then accomplishes the same through diplomacy which fails, that is unacceptable and just makes one look foolish.
Mr. Trump took action. To where it leads, time will tell.
4
President Obama took action as well. He just did it the way a president is supposed to, by asking Congress. Syria is a sovereign nation. An act of war against it requires Congressional approval. The GOP led Congress did not give it.
Implying that Obama's inaction was his fault is dishonest and intellectual laziness of the worst kind. If he had taken action the way Trump just did, the GOP would have rioted, and rightly so.
Implying that Obama's inaction was his fault is dishonest and intellectual laziness of the worst kind. If he had taken action the way Trump just did, the GOP would have rioted, and rightly so.
14
"To where it leads, time will tell." The same air strip is being used for planes to take off - within a day or two of the bombing. And Assad apparently dropped chlorine gas on a town near Damascus, also within a day or two of the U.S. bombing. So it did nothing. And that was obvious within about 48 hours. Does that answer your question?
8
And who played the videos of sarin gas victims over and over and over. It wasn't just Trump who wanted revenge, but all his easily manipulated followers. The media panders to what the consumers want, just as they did in Iraq. And if the world can ban sarin gas, no matter who used it, then why can't we ban napalm and nuclear weapons? Maybe if the media would show babies writhing from napalm or radioactive burns over and over and over---we might ban them as well.
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After the attack and the praise that followed, I wonder who will he attack next without Congressional approval? We have given a madman a weapon and he was strategic enough to attack someone we all hate, but we need to still realize the world is less safe because of what Trump did. We have these rules (e.g. Congressional approval) in place for many reasons including tempering impulsive behavior. As much as I hate Assad, what Trump did and the praise that followed scares me more. We need to be careful about praising erratic behavior especially when it done by someone like him - someone with powerful weapons and a narcissistic ego with a madman's temperament.
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Trump looked very messiah-like as he sat amongst gilded lilies with Pres.Xi
3
North Korea. The winds of war are blowing hard.
2
And not just a madman's temperment. trump is ignorant of his ignorance and, unfortunately for us, he is not a very smart person.
3
Trump's bombing seems like a logical extension of Obama's policies in Syria. Obama opted to work to remove gas there and that policy stopped the gasing for years with an implicit threat of more substantial measures if it was resumed. Gassing could be resumed under the implicit threat of bombing, and when it did occur, the implicit threat became an explicit reality with Trump's bombing. I think Obama would have done the same, and that seemed an appropriate next step.
So, news and pundits, please stop trying to make a logical and reasonable extension of existing policy be a referendum on either Trump or Obama.
So, news and pundits, please stop trying to make a logical and reasonable extension of existing policy be a referendum on either Trump or Obama.
4
I wish the bloggers and Charles Blow would make up their minds about what constitutes the appropriate use of force against a nation which gasses its own people. First the OP ED section and the bloggers are moved to tears by heart wrenching photos of grief stricken parents holding their dead children, demanding someone (preferably the USA) do something to stop the killing. Finally when the USA uses some of its firepower, even symbolically, as a warning to the dictator of that nation to stop killing its own people with deadly gas, the bloggers and Charles Blow call our president a war monger and the USA's attack is an empty gesture that accomplished nothing. Come on folks can you please decide what it is you do want us to do about Syria? I mean how are we supposed to solve a problem about Syria??
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It's quite simple. If Obama did it or did not do it: that is correct.
If Trump did it or did not do it: that is wrong.
If Trump did it or did not do it: that is wrong.
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I doubt the only two options were (1) to do nothing except pity the suffering and (2) to shoot at something. In fact, I'm certain those weren't the only two options. And it's the job of our leaders to solve difficult problems. Although, given the current state of our leadership, I very much doubt they're up to the task.
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Thanks Joshua. I hate all of these mixed messages from the bloggers and columnists which do nothing but confuse everyone. Obama could do no wrong despite the fact his "red line" proved to be a total failure. By comparison, Trump just can't do anything right even when he tries to show Assad he means business by firing the Tomahawks at a Syrian airfield. Charles Blow has already proclaimed Trump to be just another Republican warmonger and he'll always remain a total failure.
Have a happy Passover.
Have a happy Passover.
3
The president's humanitarian mission wasn't reflected in his campaign rallies when he disparaged Islam as a sponsor of terrorists and vowed to ban immigration from Muslim countries if elected. His first executive order forbade entry into the United States by people from seven countries, a wide enough sweep that would appeal to his angry red base. His ban was declared unconstitutional by the courts but that was beside the point. His symbolic gesture of discrimination and exclusion served his own deeper purpose. He was campaigning for the GOP's 2020 nomination just weeks after being sworn in as Chief Executive.
The 45th's military strike against Syria was an act of war. Bashar al-Assad massacred his own children, an act of cruelty that the world rightfully condemned. But this president has deemed these same children as undesirable and unwelcome on American shores and he now seeks to be their protector and benefactor.
When Barack Obama sought a peaceful approach to solving the complicated and never-ending Syrian civil war, Senate Republicans and Congressmen decried Obama's approach as "feckless". Many Americans felt that the president's missile attack was reckless, yet, the GOP faithful accorded the president a standing ovation for his actions. This president kicked the Syrian tar baby and now is more committed than his thinks he is. He'll soon find that extricating himself from the Syrian military conflict won't be so easy. His grandstanding did our country no favors.
The 45th's military strike against Syria was an act of war. Bashar al-Assad massacred his own children, an act of cruelty that the world rightfully condemned. But this president has deemed these same children as undesirable and unwelcome on American shores and he now seeks to be their protector and benefactor.
When Barack Obama sought a peaceful approach to solving the complicated and never-ending Syrian civil war, Senate Republicans and Congressmen decried Obama's approach as "feckless". Many Americans felt that the president's missile attack was reckless, yet, the GOP faithful accorded the president a standing ovation for his actions. This president kicked the Syrian tar baby and now is more committed than his thinks he is. He'll soon find that extricating himself from the Syrian military conflict won't be so easy. His grandstanding did our country no favors.
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Hail Donald, he conquering Trump,
No longer fumble fingered frump,
A Syrian strike
Which some people like,
Has ended a post-swear-in Slump.
It seems that we've now bombed both sides,
In which much confusion abides,
Putin, once his buddy,
Has-been fuddy duddy,
In a turnabout Trump derides.
No longer fumble fingered frump,
A Syrian strike
Which some people like,
Has ended a post-swear-in Slump.
It seems that we've now bombed both sides,
In which much confusion abides,
Putin, once his buddy,
Has-been fuddy duddy,
In a turnabout Trump derides.
75
The bombing has accomplished nothing. We did not destroy
the airfields, and Syrian jets are back in business. Trump told
Putin who told Assad who moved men and materiele out of
harm's way. We did not destroy the chemical weapons and left
the ammo depots alone. This was done to address Trump's
rotten approval ratings and the lousy job numbers. It was done
to defect attention from the Russia investigation.
Winning new cycles is not policy. Thisis all sizzle and no steak.
Not even Trump Steaks
the airfields, and Syrian jets are back in business. Trump told
Putin who told Assad who moved men and materiele out of
harm's way. We did not destroy the chemical weapons and left
the ammo depots alone. This was done to address Trump's
rotten approval ratings and the lousy job numbers. It was done
to defect attention from the Russia investigation.
Winning new cycles is not policy. Thisis all sizzle and no steak.
Not even Trump Steaks
516
A perfect example of "wagging the dog..."
5
The whole thing makes me sick. Boys and their destructive toys - worshiped by the male pundits who wished they had the same toys. And $60 million right into Betsy de Vos's brothers hands. How cozy. I am not saying some sort of military intervention at some stage may have been warranted - but only after careful thought and with a long term plan and exit strategy. If trump and his supporters cared so much about those beautiful, innocent babies he would have used that $60m to fund aid and diplomacy projects and opened up our doors to refugees. These are scary times and we are lead by a thoughtless, vain and careless man.
686
@Dana, Santa Monica: Love your post. Yes that $60-million could have been better spent had he the first instincts of compassion. I seem to recall airlifts of supplies, water and food into war-ridden locales to benefit the besieged citizens that we were so concerned about rescuing. But I digress. Your razor cut across the administration's cheek about the money going into the DeVos coffers was a great point. This grandstanding air strike feels less like considered foreign policy and concern about suffering babies than it does the foul reek and smelly pull of dark money from campaign donors telling this president "you owe us." Cynical, perhaps, but don't you think that $60-millions might have gone a long way to solving the water treatment problems in, say, Flint, Michigan?
Or, as Warden Norton slyly asked Andy Dufresne, in solitary confinement for telling him "it stops here" in The Shawshank Redemption, "am I being obtuse?"
Or, as Warden Norton slyly asked Andy Dufresne, in solitary confinement for telling him "it stops here" in The Shawshank Redemption, "am I being obtuse?"
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Dana, I wish I could recommend your comment 1,000 times!
16
Charles Blow got it right: "Acts of war can themselves be used as political weapons. They can distract attention, quell acrimony, increase appetite for military spending and give a boost to sagging approval ratings."
13
I don't know why, Mr. Blow, your employer allowed the immature, childish Tom Cotton of Arkansas to strut and preen in this forum Saturday last, crowing about the new resolve of America to flex its muscles abroad--least of all in Syria, a country that is less a nation than it is an open hand grenade.
Sen. Cotton trashed President Obama for his "red line" in 2012, attempting to portray him as some weak, feckless president, a milquetoast, who made threats and then backed off them. The senator, a foreign policy novice of the first water, failed to be honest with his readers. Not only did he tie in the "red line" with the Iran nuclear agreement, he refused to tell his listeners that the president was resolved to attack Bashar al-Assad for his murder of 1,400 civilians via chemical weapons. The president wrestled with the serious, extremely fraught complexities of international law of attacking a country with whom we were not at war. President Obama asked Congress for this authority in August, 2013, calling for a vote when they returned from recess. They refused. Red line crossed by al-Assad, not because of presidential dilatoriness, but by Congressional inaction. Contrary to his critics, President Obama was not "a king!" He could not flout Congress.
Now comes his successor. Americans should know, or deeply suspect, that Vladimir Putin holds his IOU's and can call them in at any time. By playing John Wayne, the president mounted the bucking bronco.
A fall is surely coming.
Sen. Cotton trashed President Obama for his "red line" in 2012, attempting to portray him as some weak, feckless president, a milquetoast, who made threats and then backed off them. The senator, a foreign policy novice of the first water, failed to be honest with his readers. Not only did he tie in the "red line" with the Iran nuclear agreement, he refused to tell his listeners that the president was resolved to attack Bashar al-Assad for his murder of 1,400 civilians via chemical weapons. The president wrestled with the serious, extremely fraught complexities of international law of attacking a country with whom we were not at war. President Obama asked Congress for this authority in August, 2013, calling for a vote when they returned from recess. They refused. Red line crossed by al-Assad, not because of presidential dilatoriness, but by Congressional inaction. Contrary to his critics, President Obama was not "a king!" He could not flout Congress.
Now comes his successor. Americans should know, or deeply suspect, that Vladimir Putin holds his IOU's and can call them in at any time. By playing John Wayne, the president mounted the bucking bronco.
A fall is surely coming.
826
Thank you for recounting that outrageous incident Obama and Ms Clinton are circumspect, thoughtful and Speak in complete sentences expressing complex thoughts about difficult situations. Somehow the GOP and their diehards have branded that as waffling, spineless and ineffective. Sad.
161
Senator Cotton, an infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, has forgotten more about leadership and sacrifice than soxared and those who recommend his reply.
And Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton had no problem playing king in Libya, who did not gas 1400 civilians, and leaving a mess behind for President Trump.
And Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton had no problem playing king in Libya, who did not gas 1400 civilians, and leaving a mess behind for President Trump.
2
Agreed. Cotton's claim that this strike in Syria "restored our credibility" is still another reincarnation of the same old silly claim. For example it's easy to recall similar calls during, and especially early in, the fiascos of Vietnam and Iraq. To me at least, Cotton sounds like an oft-heard echo, one that again reflects that commonly little is learned from even recent history.
This action may produce an immediate jump in Trump's domestic poll numbers, but it does not "restore credibility". Neither does it enhance the credibility of one (Cotton) who thinks it restores national credibility. However, it does seem to show that Trump can flip 180 degrees on (a TV actuated?) impulse, and that's incredible.
This action may produce an immediate jump in Trump's domestic poll numbers, but it does not "restore credibility". Neither does it enhance the credibility of one (Cotton) who thinks it restores national credibility. However, it does seem to show that Trump can flip 180 degrees on (a TV actuated?) impulse, and that's incredible.
12