Trump Orders
Strikes Against Syrian Regime Airbase in Response to Chemical Attack
by Kristina Wong 6 Apr 2017
WASHINGTON –
President Trump ordered a cruise
missile strike against a Syrian regime military airbase, in response to a
chemical weapons attack carried out by the regime earlier this week.
At 8:40 p.m. EDT, the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk land
attack missiles at the Shayrat Airfield located in the Homs Governorate in
Western Syria, according to Pentagon officials. The strike lasted minutes.
“This was in response to the Syrian chemical weapons
attack April 4th in Khan Sheikhoun… That attack killed and injured hundreds of
innocent Syrian people, including women and children,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy
Capt. Jeff Davis.
“The strikes were intended to deter the regime from using
chemical weapons again,” he said.
The missiles were launched from U.S. destroyers USS
Porter and Ross, which were in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea at the time, he
said.
The missiles hit aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters,
petroleum and logistical storage areas, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense
systems and radars, he said.
Davis said the U.S. military took care to avoid any human
casualties. It notified Russia – and “many countries” – of the planned strikes
ahead of time. There were Russian troops at the airbase, although it’ is not
clear if they were still there during the strikes.
Davis said the U.S. struck an area where Russian and
Syrian troops were not located.
“In this case in particular, every precaution was taken
to execute these strikes with minimal risk to personnel at the airfield,” Davis
said.
The strike was aimed at deterring another chemical
weapons attack by the regime.
The airbase was the same one the regime used to carry out
the chemical weapons attack, Davis said. The U.S. military said it tracked the two aircraft that the regime
used to conduct the attacks.
The airbase also housed one of Syria’s main chemical
weapons storage facility prior to
2013, he said.
Trump had hinted on Wednesday during a Rose Garden
briefing with the King of Jordan that he would take action against the regime.
He said the attack had crossed “many, many lines, beyond
a red line — many, many lines.”
“That attack on children yesterday had a big impact on
me. Big impact,” Trump had said. “That was a horrible, horrible thing, and I’ve
been watching it and seeing it, and it doesn’t get any worse than that.”
Trump reportedly spoke with lawmakers before the strike.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called on the president to come to
Congress to seek congressional authorization for military action in Syria.
“While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the US was
not attacked,” he said in a statement. “The President needs congressional
authorization for military action and I call on him to come to Congress for a
proper debate on our role. Our prior interventions in this region have done
nothing to make us safer and Syria will be no different.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a “monster” and a “puppet of Russia and Iran” but said he
looked forward to the president “making the case to Congress and the American
people” in the days ahead.
Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic defense hawks
praised the airstrikes.
“Unlike the previous administration, President Trump
confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action,” said Sens. John McCain
(R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
“I think it was an important step,” Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-FL) said on CNN.
“This was not some symbolic measure.”
“I support the admin’s strike on the air base that
launched the chemical attack. I hope this teaches Assad not to use chemical
weapons again,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).
In a statement, President Trump explained the urgency
behind the strikes:
My fellow Americans, on Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar
al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.
Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless 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.
Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the
airfield in Syria from where a chemical attack was launched. It is in the
vital, national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the
spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that Syria
used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical
weapons convention and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council.
Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior
have all failed, and failed very dramatically. As a result, the refugee crisis
continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the
United States and its allies. Tonight I call on all civilized 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.
We ask for God’s wisdom as we face the challenge of our
very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of
those who have passed and we hope that as long as America stands for justice,
that peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail. Good night and God bless
America and the entire world. Thank you.
Syria
Bashar al-Assad
is the president of Syria, supporting
Russia politically & militarily,
supporting the Syrian Electronic Army
a hacker group, married to Asma al-Assad,
and permitted the rise of the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)
in Syria.
Note: Syrian
Electronic Army reportedly hacked the Human
Rights Watch.
Gara LaMarche was
an associate director at the Human
Rights Watch, a director at the White
House Project, and a VP & director of U.S. programs for the Open Society Foundations.
Daisy
Khan was a director at the White
House Project, and is an executive director for the American Society for Muslim Advancement.
Muslim
Leaders of Tomorrow is a sponsor for the American Society for Muslim Advancement.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Human Rights Watch, and the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a friend of Michael Douglas, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote
Open Society, and a benefactor for the Human
Rights Watch.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human
Rights Watch, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Michael Douglas is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and a friend of George Soros.
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), and the founder of CNN.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was the
president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the U.S.
Department of Defense.
U.S.
Department of Defense oversees the U.S.
Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and
the U.S. Army.
Eric K. Fanning
was the chief of staff for the U.S.
Department of Defense, a deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Navy, a deputy director for the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Proliferation and Terrorism, and is the secretary for the U.S. Army.
Chas. W. Freeman
Jr. was an assistant secretary for the U.S.
Department of Defense, and is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
James F. Collins
is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was a U.S. ambassador for Russia.
Kofi
A. Annan was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a secretary general for the United Nations, and a trustee at the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
United Nations
is the body for the United Nations
Security Council.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Edward P.
Djerejian is a trustee at the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, and was a U.S. ambassador for Syria.
Bashar al-Assad
is the president of Syria, supporting
Russia politically & militarily,
supporting the Syrian Electronic Army
a hacker group, married to Asma al-Assad,
and permitted the rise of the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)
in Syria.
Asma al-Assad is
married to Bashar al-Assad, and a
banker for the Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank
was a lender for the Trump Organization.
Donald
Trump is the founder for the Trump
Organization, the president for the Donald
Trump administration, and is Ivanka
Trump’s father.
Ivanka Trump is Donald Trump’s daughter, an EVP for the
Trump Organization, married to Jared Kushner, and Jamie S. Gorelick is her attorney.
Jared Kushner is
married to Ivanka Trump, a senior
adviser to the president for the Donald
Trump administration, and Wilmer Cutler
Pickering Hale and Dorr is his law.firm
Jamie S. Gorelick
is Ivanka Trump’s attorney, a partner
at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr,
a general counsel for the U.S.
Department of Defense, and a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the U.S.
Department of Defense.
U.S.
Department of Defense oversees the U.S.
Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and
the U.S. Army.
Eric K. Fanning
was the chief of staff for the U.S.
Department of Defense, a deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Navy, a deputy director for the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Proliferation and Terrorism, and is the secretary for the U.S. Army.
Chas. W. Freeman
Jr. was an assistant secretary for the U.S.
Department of Defense, and is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
James F. Collins
is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was a U.S. ambassador for Russia.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Edward P.
Djerejian is a trustee at the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, and was a U.S. ambassador for Syria.
Bashar al-Assad
is the president of Syria, supporting
Russia politically & militarily,
supporting the Syrian Electronic Army
a hacker group, married to Asma al-Assad,
and permitted the rise of the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)
in Syria.
Asma al-Assad is
married to Bashar al-Assad, and a
banker for the Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank
was a lender for the Trump Organization.
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