Also points fingers at Obama for ’13 ‘red line’
warned that Assad had a “Big price to pay” and needed to let medics into the area.
“Another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. SICK!”
Trump also discussed the issue with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during a wide-ranging phone call Sunday afternoon.
The alleged attack, in the last remaining foothold for the Syrian opposition, came as the President suggested U.S. troops won’t remain in Syria much longer — leaving it for other nations to deal with the crisis.
Trump also blamed his predecessor for not taking a tough enough stance when Assad used chemical weapons in 2013. Trump himself had warned Obama against striking Syria in 2013, but later changed his tune.
“If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” Trump tweeted.
The chemical offensive came almost a year after a similar attack in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people.
That attack prompted the U.S. to launch several dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert declined to say how the U.S. might respond to the latest horror.
“I wouldn’t take anything off the table,” Bossert said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “These are horrible photos. We’re looking into the attack at this point.”
But he backed up Trump’s stance that sorting out the situation might fall to other countries.
“American troops aren’t going to fix the six or seven different ongoing conflicts and wars going on in the Middle East or in Syria at this stage,” he said. “We need regional partnership increased and we need U.S. presence decreased.”
First responders in Douma said they found bodies scattered across floors, some foaming at the mouth. Rescue workers said the victims appeared to have suffocated.
Survivors treated at local clinics smelled strongly of chlorine, medical workers said.
More than 500 people, mostly women and children, were brought to medical centers complaining of difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth and burning sensations in the eyes. Some had bluish skin, a sign of oxygen deprivation.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also blamed the Kremlin for the chemical attack because it supported the Assad regime.
“It is further reason why it is so important that the President ramp up the pressure and the sanctions on the Russian government because without the support of Russia I do not believe that Assad would still be in office,” she said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the President needs to back up the tough talk with action.
“If he doesn’t follow through and live up to that tweet, he’s going to look weak in the eyes of Russia and Iran, so this is a defining moment, Mr. President,” Graham said on “This Week.” SEN. JOHN McCAIN said President Trump practically pushed the Syrian regime into a chemical attack on its own people by “prematurely” suggesting a troop withdrawal from the war-ravaged nation. “President Trump last week signaled to the world that the United States would prematurely withdraw from Syria,” the Republican senator from Arizona (below) said in a statement Sunday. “Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers have heard him, and emboldened by American inaction, Assad has reportedly launched another chemical attack against innocent men, women and children, this time in Douma.” The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee urged Trump to retaliate against Assad the way he did last year when he ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airbase. “The question now is whether he will do anything about it,” he said. “The President responded decisively when Assad used chemical weapons last year. He should do so again, and demonstrate that Assad will pay a price for his war crimes.”