He cannot even come up with his own declarative statement of success. "MissIon Accomplished?" Ugh. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Trump's response to Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad's brutal and senseless slaughter of his own civilians, including children, was so predictable. We've seen it before - exactly a year ago. He acts like he plays his cards close to his vest while in reality broadcasting his moves in full stereo with the volume turned up to 11. We conduct air strikes on empty military facilities. A "limited operation."
This time, as last time, the Pentagon is very proud of this mission, claiming it went off without a hitch. One military scientific research facility is gone, two other military bases hit, no missiles shot down, no Russians deployed...WOOOHOOOO. We have done so much to help protect the Syrian people from Assad!
Or have we?
No. No, we have not. How do I know? Because I WATCH AM JOY, THAT IS HOW. And, while she had Malcolm Nance and Nayyera Haq on to discuss this travesty, I learned that after last year's air strikes in response to Assad's chemical attack on his own people, he perpetrated nine (NINE!) more chemical weapons attacks on them. This was not the first attack since a year ago, people. So it's not as if our strikes helped.
You know what WOULD have helped? Admitting more Syrian refugees to the United States so that they would no longer have to live in Syria where they might be subjected to chlorine gas attacks! That's right, since October 2017, only 44 Syrian refugees have been admitted here! [Ed. note: Other counts have listed as low as 11 refugees this year.]
If Trump is so outraged over the Syrian people's treatment by "Animal Assad," shouldn't he be letting more of them in? Nayyera Haq thinks so:
So it ends up being a tit-for-tat in which he [Trump] gets to show something to his base or people in the United States who want to feel good about humanitarian intervention without any of the actual practical steps of following up against Russia or any of the humanitarian steps of letting in refugees.
According to the International Rescue Commission, only 44 Syrian refugees fleeing war were admitted to the United States. The Trump administration has not indicated they are interested in allowing more than the 23,000 Syrians projected by IRC.
Orioles Park at Camden Yards can seat 45,000 people. It was at full capacity on Opening Day. Do Trump and his toadies honestly think that we can only care for half-a-stadium's worth of Syrians to protect them from the next chemical attack? Because there will be another one. Assad's walking around like nothing happened.
Maybe because nothing of substance really did.
