US, UK, France vs. Syria… TOT, 2100 EDT, 0400 Local Syria time
Multiple launches by various platforms from various bases, plus a ‘few’ TLAMs thrown in for good measure. Targeting was Syrian compounds that have the capability to produce chemical weapons. And apparently there was a ‘deconfliction’ line passed to the Russians (e.g. don’t come south of this line, if you do, all bets are off)…
And yes, the President DOES have the authority to launch an operation lasting less than 30 days without Congress’ approval.
And it wasn’t ‘leaked’!!! What a novel concept! Actually do the mission FIRST, then talk about it. Limited strikes, three targets, including the R&D facility in Damascus. BDA will be done after sunrise this morning, but I’m going to still be asleep when that comes in.
And this sends a message that the NORKs and others are sure to be watching… 🙂
Hey Old NFO;
I am of mixed emotions, part of me understands that we needed to do something, but part of me thinks that we don’t need to get involved. Getting involved in Syria is a lose-lose for the United States…I am normally very Hawkish, but I see no upside in this one.
What Bob said. Other than preening feathers, why?
In an ideal world, Congress would be consulted. As a practical matter, we know that while Congress was being consulted, they’d be on the phone to their pet reporters to put the story out. They want to have a say but they can’t keep the confidence of the president and the military. It stretches Article 2, but I don’t see how else we can operate.
As to the strikes themselves, they would seem to have been effective in degrading production of CW. The addition of the UK and France were important in my opinion.
Calling the Russians to “de-conflict airspace” doesn’t count as “leaking”?
This is madness. One stray round and Vlad WILL launch a retaliatory strike. This man won’t bluff. The Neo-Con’s are betting that a Russian who has no remorse and no fear won’t hit back over a false flag attack/counter attack. The Neo-Cons are thinking Soviet Union. But Vlad is Russian Mob. You cross those people and they kill you and everybody near you. What Trump just did may be the most stupid thing any national leader has ever done. It is beyond obvious that He and his advisors don’t have a clue who they are messing around with. Because if they push Vlad he’ll launch on warning.
The Russians are pragmatic. A study of Russia, then the USSR and finally the Russian Federation (essentially Great Russia) shows this to be true time and time again. I would also say that’s true of many of the Russian mafia groups. It’s true that treachery is met with ‘a lesson to everyone’, but in their business dealings, they can be reasoned with.
They know that the US is leaving Syria. They know that the gas attack represented something that we would not ignore. They knew that Syria cheated by maintaining their CW program and while they had to protest for the value of face, it’s not worth WW3
Vlad will do nothing. I think he expected us to do this solo, and MUST be mighty surprised that we had physical support, along with diplomatic support from many other countries.
I’ll agree with one suggestion from the above commenters…
He ain’t stupid. He knows when he should shut up after having his nose bloodied.
I too am antsy about this attack, but ask yourself this-
If you heard screaming from the house three doors from yours in your neighborhood, what would you do?
Douma is screaming.
Agreed.
Would we have ignored the Holocaust?
Oh yeah. We did.
Maybe we are not exacting retribution for the use of chemical weapons.
Maybe we are demonstrating that a reliance on Russia and her weapons systems is a foolish endeavor.
And testing reaction of the Russians.
So far, so good.
Bob/Skip- It’s all over the red line of chemical weapons. Obama drew the line and did nothing. Trump redrew the red line and acted…
LL- Agreed!
CM- Apparently 30 minutes prior… Not a lot of lead time, and the Russians had already moved their aircraft and ‘systems’ earlier in the week to ‘safe’ locations.
Ray- I have to disagree. Putin knew ‘something’ was coming. He moved airplanes and systems to safe locations. Assad flaunted the chemical weapons ban after Russia said they would ‘enforce’ the ban last year. Putin is NOT mob, he is KGB and wants to resurrect the Russia he grew up with. I think GB’s comment is correct.
GB- Agreed!
Ed- Yep, on the second, no the Russians weren’t going to react. They never even turned their systems on.
I wonder too if it is aimed at Iran. “You want a piece of this? Think hard. We’ll wait.” And to keep Israel from taking action on their own (not that it would stop them if they felt their survival was on the line.)
The other thing I wondered is if some of the stuff from Syria has been intercepted on its way to Europe or “elsewhere.” Cut off the source for a while and make it harder for the other Bad Guys to do really, really nasty things.
But I’m just a civilian who’s read a few too many books, and I did not stay at Holiday Inn Express last night. 😉
I’m still dubious. To begin with, Assad is pretty much at the point of winning this war. He was close to taking that town already. Why would he risk bringing the West down on himself when he’s just mopping up? And how is it that just days after Trump says he’s pulling us out of Syria at the same time the radicals are losing not only is there this attack but, shazamm!, there’s someone to video it and send it out to the world. And suddenly western powers are coming in to help the rebels.
Bush made the mistake of waiting for the approval of various and sundry before hitting Saddam – we have aerial photos of transport trucks swarming around his chem weapons facilities during the breather that provided Iraq. Those weapons got scattered into Syria. The rebels, who want the destruction of all Jews and Christians after they are done with Assad, have some of those weapons and they’ve shown themselves willing to use them against their own people in order to try to draw Western sympathy.
A lot of people stand to gain from us getting entangled in this – the industrial military complex that Ike warned us against, various countries/groups that want to build a pipeline across Syria, and, most of all, China. China is also supporting the rebels – those rebels who would remove our heads and spike them in an instant. And while the US and Russia quarrel, China builds and builds and gets stronger and stronger.
And as far as “Well, we are sure Assad did it ’cause INTELLIGENCE” – how much do you trust the FBI these days? Why should we trust any other government organization?
This stinks to high heaven.
More world police shit with absolutely nothing to gain for us.
Hooray.
What’s done is done. Where do we go forward?
I Re-blogged a couple of neat articles from The Aviationist:
Aerial and naval OOB based on OSINT: The Aviationist » Everything We Know (And No One Has Said So Far) About The First Waves Of Air Strikes On Syria.
The Aviationist » Russia Claims 71 Out Of 105 Cruise Missiles Downed In Yesteday’s Air Strikes. None Were Shot Down According to The US.
And, likely, the Russians got off no shots, and the Syrians didn’t launch until it was all over.
IIRC, the CINC has 60 days to consult Congress if he’s going to maintain operations. (Which has been ignored by pretty much every President since it was made law…)
Putin and his but buddies are kleptocratic oligarchs who dream of the god old days of the Soviet Union. Show weakness — you know, like Obama and Clinton — and they’ll take advantage.
This slim little book has Vlad’s number: The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep: Russia’s Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin – Kindle edition by David Satter. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ AmazonSmile.
Meanwhile, someone (wanna bagel?) took out an Iranian airfield in Syria last night.
“World Police Shit”…
I wonder how many people said that while several million Jews were being gassed in Germany?
All- Thanks for the comments! And agree…
Posted from my iPhone.
Aaaaaand, now the GLONASS GPS satellites are down.