Dispatches from Trump's America: Last week's Tomahawk strike against Syria's real mission: to divert attention from Russia probe
Last Thursday's cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airfield - in which two U.S. warships launched 59 Tomahawk land attack missiles (TLAM) allegedly in retaliation for a deadly chemical attack that killed "dozens of civilians" may have been aimed at Syrian dictator Bashir Assad's military forces. But the real target was the credulity of the American public and the mainstream media as the unpopular President tries to deflect attention from investigations into Russia's alleged interference with the 2016 election - and his campaign's possible collusion with Moscow.
According to CNN.com, the April 6 missile strike against "the airbase that was home to the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks" was ordered by the President to, as Mr. Trump said, "to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons."
Per the official version of why Mr. Trump ordered the TLAM strikes last week, the President was shocked by media footage showing the aftermath of a Syrian chemical bombing raid earlier last week. Apparently, several aircraft based at the Al Shayrat airbase dropped several bombs with deadly Sarin nerve agent that killed dozens of "innocent men, women, and children" in Syria's Idlib province.
The attack, which was carried out by Syrian dictator - and Russian ally - Assad was real. It killed over 70 civilians and injured many more.
The President may have been genuinely angry and shocked by the dastardly attack against civilians. And I have no doubt that the U.S. Department of Defense personnel involved in the strike had no ulterior motives when they planned and carried out the mission to hit the Al Shayrat airbase.
There is, however, reason to believe that, like most of Mr. Trump's recent activity in the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, this was all a dog-and-pony show intended to boost the President's approval ratings - and divert attention from the Administration's Russiagate woes.
Consider this:
 |
| Official Department of Defense photograph |
According to all accounts, the U.S. Central Command notified Russian military commanders in the region about the TLAM strike in advance per "deconfliction" rules set in place since Russian and American forces began striking targets in Syria in 2015. (The U.S. bombs ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq; Russian planes usually attack non-ISIS-affiliated Syrian rebels who are fighting against Assad.)
Per CNBC.com:
A U.S. official said the Russians had been warned
before the U.S. launched at least 59 tomahawk missiles aimed at Syria.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in an
official statement: "Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike
using the established deconfliction line. U.S. military planners took
precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the
airfield."
The strikes, which hit an airfield near Homs, struck
aircraft and infrastructure including the runway, NBC reported. There is no
word on casualties yet, but no people were targeted, the official told NBC.
Perhaps such a relatively bloodless strike - no Americans lost their lives, and the Syrians reported that six (that's right, six) of their soldiers were killed - was intended to be a shot across Assad's (and Putin's) bow. As in, Youse guys drop bombs with chemicals on men, women, and children, even beautiful babies, and you will get a world of hurt. Bigly.
Well, apparently that message did not get through to its intended recipients; not only is the Syrian air force launching aircraft from the Al Shayrat to drop conventional weapons against opponents of the Assad regime, but Syrian sources quoted by conservative-leaning Fox News say that the use of chemical weapons is not surprising - and that it may occur again.
Per CNN: A day after the TLAM strikes, the airbase used by Syria to launch last week's chemical attack is still operational and that conventionally-armed planes are flying combat missions over rebel-held areas.
At least one woman was killed and three other people
were injured in Saturday's strikes in Khan Sheikhoun, two activists in the town
said. The strike that killed the woman happened in a residential neighborhood,
activist Alaa Al-Youssef said.
It wasn't clear from where the strikes were launched,
but the Syrian air force resumed flight operations at the base the United
States struck Friday, two pro-regime media outlets and an opposition group said
Saturday.
A video on Instagram, posted Saturday by a reporter
from the state-run Russia-24 outlet, purported to show a jet rolling down a
tarmac at the air base. The caption reads: "Return to work at
Shayrat."
And according to Fox News, a Syrian Army defector says that no one should be surprised that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people.
Appalling images of Syrian babies gasping for breath
and others foaming at the mouth after the Damascus regime hit a rebel-held town
with chemical weapons has stunned the world. But people were almost as stunned
last week that Syria still had chemical weapons because the Kremlin in June
2014 had vouched publicly for their complete eradication.
One man who certainly wasn’t stunned that Syria had
such weapons and would use them was Syrian Brig. Gen. Zaher al-Sakat, once the
Bashar regime’s chemical weapons chief in charge of such operations.
In an interview this week with Fox News, Sakat
remained steadfast that there is no way his former boss, Syrian President
Bashar Assad, would ever "completely give up" his arsenal. Sakat said
that in 2013 he was ordered -- from the top -- to use chemical weapons,
phosgene and chlorine, on three separate occasions.
Now, it's never a good thing to express cynicism when American Presidents order our armed forces to carry out military actions such as last Thursday's TLAM strikes against Syria. But we also need to look at the timing of Mr. Trump's sudden change of heart over intervening in the Syrian civil war.
First, his Gallup poll ratings were at a historical low (35% approval rating). Most Americans who are not conservatives or Republicans disapprove of his policies and dislike many of his Cabinet picks. They are also embarrassed by his less-than-adroit handling of the "repeal and replacement" of the Affordable Care Act and his many lies about not going golfing because he'd be too busy, that the Mexican government would pay for his wall on the southern border, and his narcissistic insistence that he would make America great again.
Michael Flynn, the disgraced National Security Adviser who was fired when it was revealed that he had talked to the Russian ambassador during the transition period about sanctions being lifted when Mr. Trump took office, has had business dealings with members of the Russian kleptocracy.
So did Paul Manafort, who worked for Mr. Trump's presidential campaign for five months, including serving as campaign chairman for three of those months.
And Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Russian government representatives, including the same Russian ambassador Flynn chatted with, last fall, a fact that he failed to mention during his confirmation hearing.
So if you're an unpopular President (as Donald Trump surely is) and you want to distract the angry citizenry and a story-hungry press, a high-profile military action that does little actual damage to the country's adversaries is just the ticket.
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/donald-trump-syria-military/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/middleeast/idlib-syria-attack/
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/06/the-us-warned-the-russians-ahead-of-syria-missile-strikes-official.html
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/10/top-syrian-army-defector-not-surprised-by-chemical-attacks-says-toxins-still-hidden-despite-russia-agreement.html
http://fortune.com/2017/03/22/paul-manafort-donald-trump-vladimir-putin/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.2b4e09973395
Comments
Post a Comment