Trump warning to Syria baffles defense officials

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Monday night sent the kind of dire warning — of the Syrian regime’s apparent preparation for another chemical weapons attack, and a threat of U.S. retaliation — that requires credibility to have a receptive national and foreign audience.

Yet the initial bafflement about the warning among U.S. defense officials, and the simultaneous distraction of President Donald Trump’s unrelated tweets, seemed to undercut the seriousness of the moment. More broadly, the episode is testing the damage Trump has done to his and his administration’s trustworthiness by his assaults on the intelligence community as well as other perceived enemies.

Trump has spent months attacking the credibility of the intelligence community, at one point comparing their tactics to those of the Nazis and repeatedly calling its findings of Russian meddling in the election a “hoax” and “witch hunt,” even as foreign policy experts cautioned that he was diminishing the reputation of a community he would need in times of crisis.

Statement ‘unusual’

“At a moment of crisis when U.S. decisions and actions rest upon information coming from the intelligence community, (Trump) may have diminished the credibility of that information in the eyes of the public and the eyes of the international community,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

Kimball called the White House statement “unusual” and said such messages would normally be sent through private diplomatic channels.

He added that the public allegation should be followed by a formal presentation of the evidence to the United Nations Security Council, to build international support against suspected Syrian violations of the chemical weapons ban.

The four-line statement on Syria from the White House press secretary came just after 8:44 p.m. CDT Monday.

“The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children,” the statement read.

“The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack.”

Unrelated tweet

If Syrian President Bashar Assad “conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price,” it concluded, citing a U.S. missile strike after the previous chemical attack to reinforce the new threat.

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Tuesday that preparations for a chemical attack were observed.

Yet Trump lent further confusion about the urgency of the matter and his own level of concern by sending out a tweet about domestic politics only minutes later.

He cited a Fox news report about the FBI’s Russia investigation, writing as he often does about the probe, “Witch Hunt!”