Though shooting-up that Syrian airfield probably won’t affect the outcome of events in Syria, it at least shows the debased state of American governance. Like the baseless charge that Barack Obama spied on him during the campaign, there is no reason to think the attack in Syria was anything more than a cynical distraction — and it appears to be working, again.
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When Barack Obama sought Congressional authorization for bombing Syria following a similar gas attack in 2013 — an attack which killed a lot more people, incidentally — the Republican-controlled Congress refused to even consider the request. There was no debate, there was no vote, and there was no bombing. That provides us with a useful benchmark for thinking about this attack.
First, the fact that Obama sought authorization in 2013 tells us there was no pre-existing authorization that could be stretched to cover Syria.
Second, in order to skirt the requirement for authorization, Trump claimed the attack was needful to protect a “vital national security interest.” This amounts, in essence, to the claim that the country is in imminent danger and the president must act without waiting for authorization from Congress.
Trump has not yet said what threat the country faced and, so far as I can tell, nobody has asked.
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Ostensibly, the president was moved to act impetuously because of compassion for the gas victims, especially the children.
But in 2013, and as recently as just a few days ago, he exhibited not a scintilla of sympathy for the victims.
Let us agree, for the purpose of discussion, that Trump underwent some sort of epiphany when he viewed those video clips, that this man whose entire life has been a cynical, manipulative fraud, was stirred to compassion. Is he prepared, then, to admit Syrian refugees to the United States? No. The Executive Order banning them remains in effect.
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What is our policy going forward? Trump hasn’t said, and there is no evidence he has even thought about it.
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The attack did no damage to the airport. Trump claims this was deliberate.
The reason you don't generally hit runways is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2017
False. However boring the appearance, a runway is a sophisticated engineered structure. Repairing a crater in a runway needs fill dirt, equipment to transport it and place it properly, concrete or asphalt, and plenty of know-how. After 6-years of civil war, how many asphalt– or concrete batch plants are in operation in Syria? And how readily available is construction equipment, or soils and pavement engineers? I don’t actually know, but I have a difficult time believing you can just place a phone call and mobilize a competent repair crew or have a truckload of properly-batched concrete delivered to a job site.
Either we missed the runways, or we didn’t want to annoy the Russians that much.
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The behavior of Republicans in Congress has been appalling. Remember: Just a few years ago they — and their president — refused to even consider defending Syria’s civilians. What has changed their minds? Besides the need for a distraction from all their other indecencies, I mean?
There is plenty of room for good faith disagreement in the matter of what our policy ought to be regarding Syria. There is a legitimate humanitarian argument that may be made — but a one-time fireworks show that allows the death to continue, albeit by different means, doesn’t constitute acting on that argument.
Since my own belief is that military involvement will only exacerbate an already-fraught situation, my inclination is to hold-my-nose and accept that there really isn’t much we can do but look out for ourselves — though, certainly, given our own role in destabilizing the Middle East, it should be easy to agree that refugees should be made welcome here.