Syria

Trump ordered the bombing of a Syrian airfield in retaliation for Assad using chemical weapons on his own people. Assad has done this multiple times in the past.

In 2012, Obama warned Assad that his use of chemical weapons would be "crossing a red line." In 2013 Assad crossed that line, and 98 Republicans signed a letter that stated bombing Syria without congressional authorization would be unconstitutional. When President Obama asked for authorization, Republicans denied him. Later, they accused him of being weak for not acting. Now America has a Republican president, and suddenly most Republicans are okay with the president bombing Syria without consulting Congress.

A UK website put the bombing this way: "It is in direct contrast to former president Barack Obama who opted not to launch airstrikes in 2013 without congressional approval." Note those last three words: "without congressional approval." Republicans want to rewrite history and pretend Obama chose not to act against the Syrian regime, when in reality he chose not to act without the support of Congress. Which I considered, and still consider, appropriate. Doesn't the Constitution make Congress the decider of when and where we go to war? Yes, it does. Has America’s Constitution been amended to make the president the decider? I don’t think so.

And with 195 countries in the world (not counting Taiwan), why does it seem to always be the American military that has to go in and bomb stuff? If other countries don't care enough to intervene, should Americans care? Using chemical warfare to kill 86 civilians is an atrocity, but 400,000 Syrians have already been killed and millions more have been displaced. Why take action now? Against the backdrop of years of war and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, why are these 86 deaths important enough to warrant an airstrike? Here’s why: dead babies on television. Four hundred thousand dead people is just a number. Eleven million displaced people is just a number. But dead babies make a powerful picture and a politician’s nightmare. “They’re killing babies – are you going to let them do that? Do something!”

The airport that was bombed was up and running again within 24 hours, a Russian-Syrian finger in Trump’s face. And the town that suffered the gas attack has already been bombed again. So what did Trump accomplish? And what comes next? I am reminded of something Winston Churchill said in 1942 after his army defeated Rommel in Egypt: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

The end of the beginning: that, I suspect, is what we’re seeing in the Middle East. Many more will die before the end of Syria’s long nightmare. In his farewell address, George Washington warned of what he called “foreign entanglements.” I hope our leaders heed Washington’s warning, but I’m not optimistic. America’s leaders have never seen a tar-baby that they could resist touching.