Decisive: What a U.S. President Must Be

Many wondered what Donald Trump would do when Assad stepped across the Obama red line during this Presidential Administration.  Wonder no more.  Rather than try to bully the Syrian president like his predecessor, Trump quietly initiated a strategic and limited strike not to just send a message, but surgically destroy the planes and their support systems that were used to conduct the chemical attacks on Syrian citizens.  The message this action sent?  The U.S. will no longer allow the slaughter of innocents in the Middle East by their own governments.

Not only did Assad hear and see that message, leaders of other Middle Eastern countries saw there is now a U.S. president who will not stand for human slaughter.  Vladimir Putin was certainly not surprised at the Trump action.  Putin has a military background and I am certain laughed often at the inaction he along with other World leaders saw from Obama.  If there was any question, Russian leaders now understand the guy that just moved in at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not a pacifist and is not someone who will make idle threats.

The really important thing that happened tonight?  Syrian babies along with their Moms and Dads will not die tonight the nasty death that results from a sarin gas attack.  It is mind boggling to try to understand how President Obama could actually put Assad on notice with the infamous “red line” speech warning Assad against chemical attacks and then do absolutely nothing, even after he later re-stated that warning to Assad.  Obama’s threats reminded me of my brother and I fighting from boredom in the back seat on the way with our parents to visit relatives.  My Dad more than once gave us the “Barack Obama” red line speech:  “Don’t make me come back there!”

How many Syrian babies are dead today because our previous president refused to follow through with his commitments to stop Assad’s gassing of his countrymen and women?  No, they were not American citizens that were getting slaughtered.  But they were human beings and we had the power and the mandate (along with every other U.N. member nation)  to stop the genocide by Assad.  And we did NOTHING.

Kinda reminds us that two Democrat presidents before Obama that Democrat President let Iran keep 100 U.S. hostages captive for a year, doing NOTHING to secure their release just as Obama did nothing to stop Assad.

How’s that “hope and change” working out for those Syrian families?