Trump Syria Bombing Megathread

[Mr. Morden]

France wants to join in too:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-11/as-trump-weighs-syria-strike-macron-is-his-go-to-guy-in-europe

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[Mr. Morden]

It's absolutely time for a global effort to remove this monster. If Kosovo was justified, this is many times over.

That seems like a weird comparison, since the US intervention over Kosovo didn't remove Milosevic from power.  It just got him out of Kosovo.

[Mr. Morden]

Btw, Trump wanted ground troops in Kosovo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fmE3jLKgTs

[Mr. Morden]

Trump on Syria five years ago:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/346063000056254464

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373058887404228608

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373146637184401408

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/374712124620406784

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/375075774644363264

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/375609403376144384

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/375721267686412288

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/376053255245008896

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/377038618407493632

[Mr. Morden]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/trump-to-review-syria-strike-options-make-decision-soon

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[Mr. Morden]

From the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/middleeast/trump-strikes-syria-attack.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur

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[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/984958307151556608

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[Mr. Morden]

Trump's speaking right now.  Says the strike is happening in concert with the UK and France.

[Mr. Morden]

Statement from Theresa May:

https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/984964536158642176

[Mr. Morden]

Still seems unclear how long this is going to last for.  Trump said that it would be a sustained effort to get Assad to stop using chemical weapons.  But what does that mean?  The bombs keep dropping for weeks?  Or just for one day, and then if/when Assad uses chemical weapons again there's another one day attack, etc.?

[Mr. Morden]

Blue, can you please stop making new Syria threads?  We already have a 7 page Syria thread, and we don't need to start 5 more.

[Mr. Morden]

In the Pentagon briefing, Mattis says this is a one off attack until such time as Assad uses chemical weapons again.  Dunford says the operation is already over now.

[Mr. Morden]

Mattis: "Right now we have no additional attacks planned."

[Mr. Morden]

Mattis calls it a one-time strike... but that contradicts what Trump said earlier.

It seems more like a difference in semantic emphasis than an outright contradiction.  Trump said:

https://www.lawfareblog.com/transcript-president-trumps-remarks-syria-airstrikes

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That is just utterly vague.  What does it mean to "stop its use of prohibited chemical agents"?  Assad didn't use chemical weapons yesterday, so has he "stopped"?  Whereas if he uses them tomorrow, he'll have started again?

For that matter, what is "this response"?  You could just say that "this response" means a policy of bombing Assad's forces for about an hour every time he uses chemical weapons.  That would be consistent with what Mattis said.

[Mr. Morden]

Trudeau and Turnbull both support the attack:

https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/984988183799611392

[Mr. Morden]

Confirmed.  Russia was notified of the attacks weeks in advance.

https://twitter.com/AP/status/985024597459390469

"Weeks" in advance?  I don't see that part in the tweet you linked to.