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CNN says 50 Tomahawk missiles were launched into Syria.

A good time to have Raytheon in your portfolio.

BackInTex wrote:A good time to have Raytheon in your portfolio.

At $1.59 MM for each missile, yes.

We talk with the Russians in Syria all day, telling them exactly what time and where we were going to attack. So, of course, they told the Syrians. All that was just for show.

Bob Juch wrote:We talk with the Russians in Syria all day, telling them exactly what time and where we were going to attack. So, of course, they told the Syrians. All that was just for show.

It remains to be seen just how much damage was done, but a country like Syria has a limited air force strike capability, and it wouldn't take a lot to put a big crimp in their military capabilities. They may have evacuated some personnel but they can't hide those planes very easily. I'm not all that upset that we blasted them, because this is the type of situation where there are no good responses.

But you have to be worried about how this is going to play out over the next few days. This attack seems like Trump operating by the seat of his pants like he usually does, without a whole lot of careful analysis of the risks and alternatives. And that type of seat-of-your-pants judgment is just what gets you in trouble in a rapidly changing, volatile situation like we may be facing.

And let's not forget that Trump basically did what he said was absolutely wrong for Obama to do when this issue first arose. Or that Trump essentially invited the Syrians to do what they wanted when he tried to wash his hands of the situation last week.

silverscreenselect wrote:

Bob Juch wrote:We talk with the Russians in Syria all day, telling them exactly what time and where we were going to attack. So, of course, they told the Syrians. All that was just for show.

It remains to be seen just how much damage was done, but a country like Syria has a limited air force strike capability, and it wouldn't take a lot to put a big crimp in their military capabilities. They may have evacuated some personnel but they can't hide those planes very easily. I'm not all that upset that we blasted them, because this is the type of situation where there are no good responses.

But you have to be worried about how this is going to play out over the next few days. This attack seems like Trump operating by the seat of his pants like he usually does, without a whole lot of careful analysis of the risks and alternatives. And that type of seat-of-your-pants judgment is just what gets you in trouble in a rapidly changing, volatile situation like we may be facing.

And let's not forget that Trump basically did what he said was absolutely wrong for Obama to do when this issue first arose. Or that Trump essentially invited the Syrians to do what they wanted when he tried to wash his hands of the situation last week.

There was enough advance warning that there were probably no planes at the base.

Many Republican Congressmen have already said Trump should have gotten their consent first.

18 Times Donald Trump Said the U.S. Shouldn't Bomb Syria

http://time.com/4730219/syria-missile-a ... mp-tweets/

There are some who think that this is the president's "Wag the Dog" moment - by sending cruise missiles against Syria he diverts attention away from his domestic problems.

earendel wrote:There are some who think that this is the president's "Wag the Dog" moment - by sending cruise missiles against Syria he diverts attention away from his domestic problems.

What domestic problems?

He's 77 days into his presidency.
Stock market up up and up.
Jobs up up and up.
His SC nominee confirmed today.
Barry Manilow came out.

BackInTex wrote:

earendel wrote:There are some who think that this is the president's "Wag the Dog" moment - by sending cruise missiles against Syria he diverts attention away from his domestic problems.

What domestic problems?

He's 77 days into his presidency.
Stock market up up and up.
Jobs up up and up.
His SC nominee confirmed today.
Barry Manilow came out.

Failure to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act.
Investigations into his campaign's ties with Russia.
To name just two.

I don't think that Trump did this to bolster his ratings. I think he's been itching to something against some "bad hombres" since day one in office and Assad certainly fits the bill here. And I don't think it was necessarily the wrong thing to do or that Congress needed to get involved in a first strike like that if Trump was acting under good, actionable intelligence.

But with Trump you never know because he's smarter than the generals, so he doesn't necessarily need to listen to their advice. It remains to be seen just how effective the strike was militarily and to what extent there was any collateral damage. The big test is coming in the aftermath. Some people think Trump is gambling that Syria and Russia won't do anything other than bellyache. I don't think Trump has actually thought that far ahead and made a calculated decision. With him, it's all, if it feels good, do it.

And, again, let's not forget that Trump's rather loose cannon statements about Syria and its internal problems were almost certainly a factor in Assad using chemical weapons for the first time in years (after Obama took action that the right wingers, including Trump, criticized back in 2013). Or that Trump's sympathy for the people who got gassed apparently doesn't extend to helping them find asylum here in the United States.

I just don't see how the missile strike really affects the situation in the long run. There's obviously tension between the two camps- one prioritizing defeat of ISIL, the other believing Assad must go first.

Seems like the strike was more symbolic; just reminding everyone that the US is there. But our policy is still chaotic and very ironically, Trump has basically adopted Obama's position: provide materiel support to reduce ISIL footprint and then talk about regime change without doing anything.

The situation won't change on the ground util Assad's backers- Iran and Russia- feel pressure to withdraw their support. Unfortunately that decision is just one part of a much more complicated chess move (also involving Turkey and the Kurds). This will be stalemated for a long long time. Maybe enough territory can be recaptured that a "safe zone" could be set up for refugees, but even that would require international cooperation that doesn't seem forthcoming yet.

BackInTex wrote:

earendel wrote:There are some who think that this is the president's "Wag the Dog" moment - by sending cruise missiles against Syria he diverts attention away from his domestic problems.

What domestic problems?

He's 77 days into his presidency.
Stock market up up and up.
Jobs up up and up.
His SC nominee confirmed today.
Barry Manilow came out.

Trump keeps saying we have huuuuge prolems; ask him.

Pres. Trump is notorious for sticking to his positions, even in the face of huge opposition and conflicting facts. But everyone has limits, and murdering babies with the whole world watching crossed the line.

bazodee wrote:There's obviously tension between the two camps- one prioritizing defeat of ISIL, the other believing Assad must go first.

I wonder if Bannon's demotion affected this internal struggle. Look at Bannon's expression on the screen behind the President as he condemns Syria aboard Air Force One:

jarnon wrote:Pres. Trump is notorious for sticking to his positions, even in the face of huge opposition and conflicting facts. But everyone has limits, and murdering babies with the whole world watching crossed the line.

bazodee wrote:There's obviously tension between the two camps- one prioritizing defeat of ISIL, the other believing Assad must go first.

I wonder if Bannon's demotion affected this internal struggle. Look at Bannon's expression on the screen behind the President as he condemns Syria aboard Air Force One:

LOL!

The 59 missiles were built here in Tucson. It's not good that over half did not hit their target. They're touted as having pinpoint accuracy.

BackInTex wrote:

earendel wrote:There are some who think that this is the president's "Wag the Dog" moment - by sending cruise missiles against Syria he diverts attention away from his domestic problems.

What domestic problems?

He's 77 days into his presidency.
Stock market up up and up.
Jobs up up and up.
His SC nominee confirmed today.
Barry Manilow came out.

The economy added only 98,000 jobs in March, well below expectations of 187,000.

earendel wrote:

BackInTex wrote:

earendel wrote:There are some who think that this is the president's "Wag the Dog" moment - by sending cruise missiles against Syria he diverts attention away from his domestic problems.

What domestic problems?

He's 77 days into his presidency.
Stock market up up and up.
Jobs up up and up.
His SC nominee confirmed today.
Barry Manilow came out.

.

earendel wrote:Failure to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act.

Not a domestic problem. Political battle lost, but he will win that war.

earendel wrote:Investigations into his campaign's ties with Russia.

It's the Democrats who should want this to go away. Trump does not want this swept under the table.

It has been confirmed by U.S officials late Thursday that Russia had been informed about the plan that was in action to attack Syria, and it seems that they used this knowledge to warn Syria. The base Trump attacked in Syria was essentially empty.

Thursday night’s raid on Syrian airbase Shayrat seems to have been anticipated by Syrian military officials, as they evacuated personnel and were seen moving equipment ahead of the strike, according to an eyewitness. This tells you everything you need to know.

According to the same eyewitness, it is believed that human casualties, at least civilians, were minimal because there did not seem to be any traffic heading toward to local hospital.

Somebody besides Rand Paul and other congressional Republicans not happy with dystopic malodorous duck follower with penis envy Donald Drumpf's Syrian attack: Drumpf's bestie, Vladimir Putin.

Putin, a longtime ally of Syria, called Drumpf's attack "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law." So we finally discovered the one way that Drumpf could criticize Putin, other than portray Putin as a gay circus clown.

Hey, Vlad! I think now would be a good time for you and your government to leak all of that blackmail you have on Drumpf. You can start with the pee tape.

Pastor Fireball wrote: Hey, Vlad! I think now would be a good time for you and your government to leak all of that blackmail you have on Drumpf. You can start with the pee tape.

There is nothing there there. But there are those emails from HRC.....

Bob Juch wrote:Thursday night’s raid on Syrian airbase Shayrat seems to have been anticipated by Syrian military officials, as they evacuated personnel and were seen moving equipment ahead of the strike, according to an eyewitness. This tells you everything you need to know.

From what I've been able to gather, the base was one of the most likely targets for a retaliatory strike in any event, so it wouldn't be difficult for the Syrians to anticipate this might happen. Plus, a lot of the equipment was kept in underground bunkers that were less likely to get damaged in any type of raid.

I'm not a Trump supporter by any means, but I wouldn't make snap judgments about the attack itself, other than to say that the hypocritical nature of the Republican response when contrasted with their condemnation of what Obama tried (which, by the way, did keep the Syrians from using chemical weapons for the remainder of his term of office) is obvious.

BackInTex wrote:

earendel wrote:Failure to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act.

Not a domestic problem. Political battle lost, but he will win that war.

How is this not a domestic problem? It shows that for all of his blustering, the president isn't the "closer" that he claims. That makes some of his other agenda items suspect, such as tax reform.

earendel wrote:Investigations into his campaign's ties with Russia.

It's the Democrats who should want this to go away. Trump does not want this swept under the table.[/quote]
Really? Then why does it seem that the president is trying to deflect the inquiry away from his campaign and toward unspecified leaks which seem to have come from the White House itself?