10 Jun 2022 12:12 pm
Blackvegetable » 08 Jun 2022, 10:26 pm » wrote: ↑ No....pay attention.
The strike was the first unilateral military action by the United States targeting the Syrian government during the Syrian Civil War.[9][10] President Trump stated shortly thereafter, "It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons."[11][12]
From what I understand the situation in Syria began under Obama. ISIS was the pretext to send soldiers into Syria and Russia was the military that backed Assad. The United States never did anything to challenge that intervention and Trump tried to pull the troops from Syria. From what I remember he made the announcement on Twitter and faced heavy criticism for not going through his generals first. I also don't exactly know if the troops were actually pulled given the career government employees that Trump labeled the deep state. Of course, the major repercussion of such a move is the exposure of the Kurds to attack from Turkey and other governments that see them as terrorists. They helped a lot with the battle against ISIS. The best guess on this is that we still have a small contingent of troops in Syria on counterterrorism operations.
I would like to know when and what context Trump made that statement. I know that Obama didn't go after Assad when he drew the "red line" of not allowing the use of chemical weapons which Assad used shortly thereafter.
Nothing is easier than defending the status quo.