Trump's Tweet on Syrian Military Strike–'Mission Accomplished'

“The strikes were not about regime change, but were a limited, targeted, effective strike with clear boundaries.”

ed note–in other words, ‘that’s all there is folks…’

So much for all the ‘experts’ and geniuses who were s***ing their pants in glee last night over their assumption Trump had just started WWIII in order to ‘please his masters in Tel Aviv’

thestreet.com

The U.S., U.K. and France in the early hours of Saturday, April 14, conducted a coordinated missile attack described as a “limited, targeted, effective strike” on targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian city of Douma last week.

President Donald Trump said Friday night that he authorized missile launches against Syrian targets.

Trump said the chemical attack was a significant escalation of the use of chemical weapons and he called it “evil and despicable.” Speaking from the Diplomatic Room in the White House, the president said, “These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead.”

The president said the U.S. is “prepared to sustain” its response until Syria stops using chemical weapons against its citizens.

Pentagon officials said the missile strikes, two in Damascus and one in Homs, targeted a scientific research center, chemical weapons storage facilities and a command center.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, in a Pentagon briefing an hour after the president’s announcement, said “the Syrian people have suffered terribly.”

“We and our allies find the atrocities inexcusable,” he said.

The object of the operations, Mattis said, is to destroy the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons infrastructure. The secretary added the U.S., British and French forces have “gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties.”

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday in a televised address said that full assessments of the airstrikes are taking place but the government is confident of its success.

“The strikes were not about regime change,” May said. “It was a limited, targeted, effective strike with clear boundaries.”

The strikes will degrade Syria’s ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons, May said. “Last night’s strikes by U.S., U.K. and France were significantly larger than the U.S. action a year ago, and designed to have greater impact on regime’s capability and willingness to use chemical weapons,” she said. “The use of a nerve agent in the U.K. in recent weeks is part of a pattern of disregard for these norms.”

French President Emmanuel Macron added in his own statement, “Our response has been limited to the capacities of the Syrian regime allowing the production and use of chemical weapons.”

The strikes were not coordinated with the Russians, an official said, and the Russians were not pre-notified. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Saturday statement called the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria an “act of aggression.”

Russia in “the most serious way condemns the attack on Syria, where Russian servicemen are helping the legitimate government in its fight with terrorism,” the statement said, according to reports from Russian news agencies.

A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.

All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an ally of Bashar al-Assad, also condemned the attacks. “I clearly declare that the US president, the French president and the UK prime minister are criminals and have committed a crime,” he said on Saturday, state agencies reported.

Trump had threatened military action against Syria for days. The White House said Friday he would consult further with allies. The PBS News Hour reported on Friday that a joint military operation could send a message of international unity about enforcing the prohibitions on chemical weapons.