“The Way I See It” is an attempt by the columnist to enlighten readers on a subject as he views it, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.
On Syria
The April 6 US Tomahawk missile attack on the Shayrat Syrian AF base where the poison gas bombing of Syrian rebels in Khan Sheikhoun originated, was a surprise to many. There was initially some doubt about who actually had the poison gas. Saddam Hussein sent his supply and the mobile laboratories to produce more to the fellow Baathist Assad regime in Syria before the US invasion. ISIS and possibly other anti-Assad militias had captured some, and there was good documentation that ISIS commanders had used some poison gas artillery shells against Assad forces in the past. Since Putin claimed to have gotten all of Assad’s, and had re-captured some, if not all, of the “missing” gas, Obama, Kerry, and Susan Rice had widely claimed the poison gas threat was over. (Hah! More Liberal fantasies for the Sheeple.)
Putin is the ‘Big Loser’ here. He claimed all was destroyed. Assad either lied to him and he was duped, or he is in cahoots with Assad. So any way you look at it, Putin is either gullible, incompetent, or an accessory to war crimes. So it appears that he has gone back to the Old Soviet Playbook – Deny, Cover-up, and Blame Others. (You can take the boy out of the KGB, but you can’t take the KGB out of the boy.)
The ‘Big Winner’ here is ISIS. Any break-down in cooperation between the US and Russia is greatly beneficial to them. In Iraq, ISIS only holds 7% of the country today, compared to 40% 3 years ago. And they have suffered several defeats and steady attrition in Syria.
It seemed incredibly stupid for Assad to pull such a bone-headed maneuver, and I suspected (and there were some reports) that some of the “rebel” poison gas was stored in caves near the town of Khan Sheikhoun, possibly with some of the lab equipment to make it, but that has been ‘mostly discredited’. “News Rumors” have it that a Russian drone was involved in observing effects of the attack and that Russian fighter-bombers intentionally bombed the hospital where the gas victims were being treated and the dead bodies stored. (See Old Soviet Playbook above.) If that proves true, it looks really bad for Vlad. Either he is trying to cover-up for Assad, or much worse – he was in on it all along. Assad had proven again that we should never underestimate the arrogance and stupidity of a Muslim dictator; and at best, Putin was duped by his “Best Buddy” in SandLand. We should hesitate to openly discuss the other possibilities until more evidence is forthcoming. Hopefully Putin will recognize the error of his ways and continue to cooperate in destroying ISIS. They are the major threat to us all. Perhaps with some strong combined diplomacy (and threats) by both Putin and Trump, Assad and his wife can be persuaded to return to London and he can resume his career as an optometrist. (Assad claimed in a 2011 interview, “he was attracted to studying eye surgery “because it’s very precise, it’s almost never an emergency, and there is very little blood.” )
Putin and Trump working together is the best, fastest, and cheapest hope for destroying ISIS. I certainly hope the “Warhawks” in “The Swamp” won’t be able to pressure Trump into getting us into another ground-war in the Middle East where we spend most of the blood and treasure. (Someone needs to gag John McCain and lock him in the coat closet until after the sensible adults sort this out. Lindsey Graham, too.)
Trump has gained praise and credibility by this “timely and measured response” to this heinous violation of International Law, but critics have pointed out it does not fit well with his “America First” foreign policy, or Congress’ power to declare war. The rapid and unexpected response is the reason for its success, and has plenty of precedents from previous Presidents. Reports of a highly emotional response from Ivanka to photos of dead and injured children are somewhat worrisome. Trump’s advisers need to be reminded – we elected ‘The Donald’, not Ivanka. Military decisions. and revenge in general. are “a dish best eaten cold”. Other positive results include China sending warnings to North Korea, including a threat to bomb their nuclear facilities if they continue to endanger the area, including northeastern China.
It is called “Leadership”. The days of “Big Talk, Do Nothing, Back-track, Appeasement, and Apology Tours” are over. 10% of Syrians were Christians in 2010, what happened to them all? Less than 1% of the “Syrian Refugees” are Christian (but about 70% are military age Muslem males?), so what happened to them? The Sunni ISIS kills them, as do the Iran-backed Shia, only the Kurds make any effort to protect them. We need to re-examine this.
UPDATE:– Deadline limited:As I originally suspected, reasonable intel is coming in that the gas released was not Sarin and probably a result of White Phosphorus munitions and chlorine.
Check the Website! I will update as info comes available and explain. But it is a good chance that the Shayrat Attack was based on bad info and bad advice.