THE SOLDIER
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S attack on the Al Shayrat air base in Syria has made the world a safer place.
The Middle East was destabilised by President Barack Obama’s poor judgement, which signalled a free pass to despots everywhere. Russia received the green light for intervention in Syria and aggression in Ukraine.
Assad previously used Sarin in August 2013 in an attack at Ghouta.
Despite Obama’s declaration the previous year that the use of chemical weapons was a red line, the US failed to respond, with far-reaching consequences for American credibility and authority.
Instead, with Russia and Syria, he agreed the surrender and destruction of Assad’s chemical weapons under international supervision.
Ever since then Obama, his secretary of state John Kerry and national security adviser Susan Rice have been bragging about how they ended Syria’s use of chemical weapons through diplomacy rather than force.
Tuesday’s sarin attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun exposed their miscalculation and naivety.
Not only was Trump’s counterattack legitimate, lawful and proportionate, it was vital for global security.
Chemical weapons are not necessarily more effective than conventional munitions in terms of carnage and destruction.
But just as the images of suffering cause revulsion around the world, they lead to blind panic and unparalleled fear among the population in potential target zones.
Assad’s intention was not only to kill but also to violently deter Syrian rebels from continuing the fight against him.
He had grown used to Obama-era inaction. From Trump he expected hot air and angry tweets, not an airbase levelled by a storm of cruise missiles.
It is unlikely he will repeat his mistake. He knows that, if he does, the fist will punch harder next time. Trump’s ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has made it clear that while the US does not want to attack again, it is ready to do so.
Putin’s response has been to rattle his sabre. Predictably, he sent a frigate to the Mediterranean at flank speed.
But he had been quick to distance himself from Assad immediately after the Khan Sheikhun attack and did not use his air defence systems deployed in Syria against the incoming missiles.
Putin will continue his habitual diplomatic antagonism against the West, but he will also reconsider whatever belligerence he may have in mind for eastern Europe. And he will not be contemplating military confrontation with the US.
Trump’s message was not just for Assad and Putin. It was also a warning to Iran, China and North Korea. America’s regional allies, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan and Turkey, have also received a signal. They became increasingly fearful as Obama demonstrated he was no longer willing to stand by them, but instead was backing their enemy Iran.
America’s new-found resolution has left them reassured. But the week’s events in Syria have cast the spotlight on another, even greater, concern.
The reason President Obama failed to respond to Assad’s Ghouta attack in 2013 was that he was terrified military action would anger Iran and jeopardise the nuclear deal he was pursuing.
Despite Obama’s certainty that his arrangement over Syrian chemical weapons would be honoured Assad inevitably reneged – as became horrifically clear on Tuesday.
His despotic Iranian puppetmasters are just as certain to cheat on the nuclear agreement.
President Trump must now deal with that before it’s too late.