Trump’s decisive Syrian action must mark start of real leadership
FOR once Donald Trump has done the right thing. The reasons behind his decision remain as opaque as ever, but the fact remains that by firing 59 Tomahawk missiles at the air base from where the sarin gas bombs were flown from on Tuesday, he has taken a stand against one of the most dangerous dictators in recent memory.
Like many of you I awoke Friday morning to news of the bombing and video footage of Trump addressing the world’s media about the reasons for his decision. I had to do a double take as at first I thought it was a spoof, but no, the man who recently forgot to sign an executive order he was so flustered, had approved a tactically brave and neatly coordinated attack on Assad’s regime. The horror of the deadly early morning attack has been seared onto the minds of millions and scarred the world into outrage, and America into action.
Pictures of Abdel Hameed cradling his twins, Ahmad and Aya - a little boy and girl - murdered children as Trump put it - could not be ignored and America did not. Alyousef also lost his wife and 19 members of his family in the attack in town of Khan Sheikhoun, early on Tuesday morning, including his brother, nieces and nephews in the attack. On Wednesday he brought his children’s remains, in matching white shrouds, to an unmarked grave to be buried. They were among more than 80 people killed and hundreds injured. The shopkeeper was called by his wife Tuesday morning alerting him to the bombing. His wife and children were brought to a basement of a nearby building for their safety, but it was too late. They were choked to death by the deadly sarin gas, which was previously deployed by the Assad regime in 2013 near Damascus. At the time President Obama held back from military action, instead putting pressure, along with the United Nations, to ensure Assad handed over his stockpile of sarin, a deadly nerve agent gas. But on the evidence of Tuesday’s attack, and reports of gas attacks since 2013, not all of the gas was handed over.
Tuesday’s attack was cowardly, reprehensible and sadly typical of a dictator who has found refuge in numerous countries and who counts among his allies one of the world’s most powerful men, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Now that Trump has unleashed some of the might of the American airforce on Assad, it will be interesting to see how relations with his mate in Moscow develop. Both men share a ruthless streak, but of the two you’d prefer to be on Trump’s side than the former KGB man’s. In his speech Trump condemned Assad’s ‘ horrible’ chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. Clearly making his case for military action, he took responsibility for the attack, which killed six people, and vowed to fight all dictators who cross the line. ‘Assad choked out the lives of innocent men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror,’ he said.
In words delivered with intent, he called on all civilised nations to ‘join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.’
The attack was welcomed by governments around the world and especially by military minded people in America.
By acting presidential for once, he has raised the bar for himself and involved America in a long term conflict.