Pres. Trump blames Assad for attack-may take unilateral action

President Trump spoke at a joint press conference in the Rose Garden with Jordan's King Abdullah II. He condemned the deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria and clearly put the blame on the Assad regime, saying it "cannot be tolerated." 

This statement came just minutes after his U.N. envoy, Nikki Haley, hinted at a possible unilateral action.

Trump condemned the strike against "innocent people including women, small children and even beautiful little babies," adding that "their deaths was an affront to humanity."

"These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this horrific attack."

Never the POTUS to show his hand, he declined to spell out what, exactly, he might do in response, but indicated his record of resistance to intervention in the region might be changing. 

"My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much," Trump said, declining to use polysyllabic terms to clarify his meaning. He said Wednesday that the latest attack "had a big impact on me."

Of course, he couldn't help but point out once again how Obama's 'red line' was a joke. President Trump was asked if the latest attack crossed such a line and he responded: "It crossed a lot of lines for me . . . That crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line." 

King Abdullah, standing beside Trump, said the "threshold of inhumanity and savagery" is being crossed daily and he fully supports Trump on the issue.

Although the White House says the Assad government is responsible for the attack, Russia says anti-Assad rebels are to blame. A Russian military expert said the chemicals were dispersed when Syrian warplanes bombed a facility where rebels were building chemical weapons.

And if you believe that, you might also believe that chickens can fly.

"When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action," Ambassador Nikki Haley said, addressing an emergency meeting of the Security Council. The council is weighing a resolution condemning chemical weapons use in Syria. Russia, which has veto power, is opposed. They enjoy using chemical weapons.

I'm surprised the UN didn't blame Israel for the chemical attack. 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be in Moscow next week and will discuss Syria with Russian leaders. It's the first visit by a senior U.S. official to Russia since President Trump's inauguration.




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Obama's Deal with Putin

Where are these antiwar celebs

President Obama made it sound like this whole Syrian chemical weapons thing, where he got Putin on board to oversee their turnover, was his idea. He called it [their] "new willingness to join the international community in pushing Syria to give up its chemical weapons," and added, "[I] also asked Congress to postpone a vote on the use of military force to pursue a diplomatic path, that's what we're doing." Wrong and wrong again. Putin jumped in when Kerry made his Bidenesque gaffe of agreeing that the US would not strike Syria if they gave up their chemical weapons. Then Putin took it back when Obama didn't agree to take a military strike off the table. Then Obama walked back the idea of a congressional vote on the idea because it was clear that he would lose miserably on that vote because the United States does not want to intervene. We had the chance to do something about Assad killing his people two years ago but Obama did nothing. He allowed those children to "die in their beds," when the rockets fell and the bullets flew. If this was a moral issue for him now, why wasn't it a moral issue for him back then?

Obama, A Fish With a Hula Hoop

Now we're going to give Bashar Assad some time to turn over his chemical weapons; I think they're talking about a month or so. That should give Syria's dictator enough time to gather up all the chemical weapons stores, put them on a truck convoy, and truck 'em on over to the US of A. And anyone who actually believes that he would do that, has turkey stuffing for brains. 

But no worries--we have Vladimir How-About-My-Pecks Putin taking care of the situation after John I'm-An-Intellect Kerry did a Joe Biden during an interview when asked the hypothetical question as to what we would do if Assad turned over his chemical weapons. Once Kerry said that we'd go along with Assad if he did, in fact turn over the weapons, "but he's not about to do that," Kerry added, Putin offered to do the dirty work for us and Obama went for it, lock, stock, and Koran. 

We Are Damned if you Do

Whatever is said or done, you have to admit that Obama is a shrewd Alinskyite. He has flip-flopped on his stance regarding the need for congressional approval for intervention with Syria. This will  put congress in his "hot seat." If they vote for an unpopular strike, congress will be blamed. If they vote against a strike, Obama will color Congress as oppositionists, simply opposing everything he is trying to accomplish. As usual, it takes the onus of responsibility away from Obama and puts it elsewhere. Nothing is ever his fault. His next autobiography should be entitled: "Profiles in Cowardice."