President Trump’s decision to order 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria last week does nothing to bring stability to that country, protect American national security or strengthen our position in the world.
It does, however, continue an unfortunate trend of American presidents committing acts of war with hardly even the pretense of legal protocol or long-term geopolitical strategy.
Ostensibly in retaliation for the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons which killed upwards of 100 people, American cruise missiles were fired on the airbase believed to house aircraft that carried out the chemical weapons attack. Undoubtedly the use of chemical weapons is reprehensible and the pictures which surfaced in the aftermath were simply heart wrenching.