The final takeaway from this Trump attack:
Runway completely undamaged
Most bunkers undamaged
Zero dead or injured personnel
Out of 59 tomahawks fired, only 23 actually made it to their targets.
Good enough for government work amirite
Did you really think one target gets only one missile? No, you assign at least two for each target. Therefore 23 targets for 60 is perfect score. The targets are fuel and ammo bunkers, control tower, radars. Maintenance sheds. Things that are needed to run an air base or airport. It will cost a lot to replace them.
This will turn into a second Iraq. Decades of instability for Syria to come.
Trump needs to justify the increased spending towards the military.
Then what? This "strategy" is incomplete at best.
Apparently we're back to regime change.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/09/middleeast/syria-missile-strike-chemical-attack-aftermath/
I don't like that at all because we can wind up with another Iraq. Trump should have kept his mouth shut and not said anything about changing Obama's policy of removal. I'm concerned the people who claim that the airbase strike was a sham because we didn't go further will have the situation clarified and they'll get a heap of death as the proof they insist on.
What good is there in building vast quantities of weapons if you never use them?
I'd be surprised if there is a single person here is concerned that we didn't manage to kill 'a decent number of people' or something similar. I think the concern is that while waging a necessary war is one thing, and avoiding an unnecessary war is another, but what all the evidence here points to is a complete sham that wasted a shit-ton of money and achieved literally absolutely nothing. The US may as well have agreed with Assad on a particular spot in the Syrian desert that is going to be fired upon, nothing there except for a big X, so Trump can say "we did good".
These moderate opposition groups were prominent in the early days of the uprising. But as the war intensified, they lost ground to the Syrian military and radical Islamist groups. The CIA and the U.S. military have tried to boost the moderate rebels, with no success.
The U.S.-backed rebels are now bit players. They are involved in talks outside of Syria, and are still working with U.S. officials. But right now, they aren't significant actors in the war and don't have a realistic chance of taking on a major political role.
A Russian warship has entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea Friday and is heading toward the two U.S. Navy destroyers that launched missile strikes into Syria, Fox News has learned.
The Russian frigate, Admiral Grigorovich RFS-494, crossed through the Bosphorus Strait “a few hours ago” from the Black Sea, according to a U.S. defense official.
Trump presses the red button and congress is like welp guess we gotta declare war. Has to be done before 2018 or all those democrats will ruin everything.What comes next?
China see right through Trumps attack.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-president-trump-xinhua.html?_r=0
Or maybe they asked their American sources who are neck deep in conspiracy theories.
One can understand why that sells to our enemies.
Who is neck deep? I'm aware of one media commentator who has endorsed this theory, and he hasn't even endorsed it that strongly.
If a few people on social media believe it, so what. The same can be said of pretty much anything, including theories far more absurd than that.
Russia and Iran warn US they will 'respond with force'
...if red lines crossed in Syria again.
The war in Syria continues. Death toll mounts. Ball is in our court. What comes next?
Actually I'm not going to say anything more other than I would do very much as did Trump if I were to involve the military in an action. The failing is to not establish a clear policy and that does not include red lines or what I would do or do not do.
It is perfectly logical to have a policy of not saying what actions in advance of an action and letting the Russians and Syrians know so people aren't killed. Killing was NOT the goal.
Strategy and tactics aren't something many people understand, but this is 101 level.
but Trump promised to do none of that. He promised that he was "the best at strategy" by clearly understanding none of it! "You don't tell your targets where you are attacking!"
I guess he didn't warn the sand where the missiles actually hit, though.
WOA HOLD THE PRESSES!
Does trump have a dog?
China see right through Trumps attack.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-president-trump-xinhua.html?_r=0
Xinhua, the state news agency, on Saturday called the strike the act of a weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles. In an analysis, Xinhua also said Mr. Trump had ordered the strike to distance himself from Syria’s backers in Moscow, to overcome accusations that he was “pro-Russia.”
ROFL!
Mr. Shen added that many Chinese were “thrilled” by the attack because it would probably result in the United States becoming further mired in the Middle East.
“If the United States gets trapped in Syria, how can Trump make America great again? As a result, China will be able to achieve its peaceful rise,” Mr. Shen said, using a term Beijing employs to characterize its growing power. “Even though we say we oppose the bombing, deep in our hearts we are happy.”
So Raytheon is set to make a tidy little profit. Their stock is getting a nice spike from this little bit of blood-letting....
I can't make up mind whether it is Saudi Arabia or our own defense contractors that are wagging this dog. I suspect of bit of both.
LoL! It turns out Donald Trump has 33 million dollars in Raytheon stock, it looks like he made himself a nifty little profit from this little adventure. Jesus, now I understand why he is dumping so much money into the Pentagon, his own personal profit. It is frankly baffling that we sit back and let him do it.