President Trump's Airstrikes Against Syria

During the early hours of April 14, 2018, the United States of America, under the careless leadership of President Donald Trump, and with the foolish assistance of the United Kingdom and France, carried out airstrikes against several targets in Syria. The stated reason for the airstrikes was to offer a forthright response to the apparent use of chemical weapons in actions against Syrian civilians by President Bashar al-Assad, the current ruler of Syria, in his ongoing fight to maintain a malign grasp on absolute power. The truth of the situation, however, is somewhat different, and not nearly as straightforward.

President Trump, in announcing the action that he had taken against Syria, also directed comments toward Russia and Iran, the primary supporters of Bashar al-Assad, asking, "What kind of nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?" What kind of nation, indeed. Actually, America knows a fair amount about the mass murder of men, women, and children, having killed many, many thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of the 21st century, as well as killing many civilians in Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. One might even say that killing civilians in foreign lands is the activity that best represents the true character of the American people.

As for the leaders of the United Kingdom and France, there is no excuse for their questionable decision to join in America's crude display of useless force. Theresa May, the ineffectual Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, seemingly lacked the necessary will to preserve the moral interests of her own nation, choosing instead to share in America's violent intentions. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, had already shown himself to be a desperate self-seeker and a pompous weasel, so it was not unduly surprising that he would choose to ally himself with President Trump. In time, both Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron are likely to regret their choice.

The airstrikes do not accomplish anything worthwhile, in either the short term or the long term. They were stunning in their bold shamelessness and repugnant in their sweeping hypocrisy, but they will not help the people of Syria (who have long suffered at the hands of their own government, the governments of Russia and Iran, and Islamic terrorists), and they will not bring the wretched conflict in Syria any closer to a peaceful conclusion.  If the future of that region, and the future of the world beyond that region, is to be decided through brutish acts of reckless warfare, the prospect of ever attaining a final peace are dangerously slight.