Dead Is Dead

Am I missing something?

Full Disclosure: I've never understood the concept of a "war crime." Isn't that redundant? Is there a "war non-crime?" Is death by poison gas really worse than death by sucking chest wound? Dead is dead, isn't it?

By the reports I've heard in the wake of what now seems to have been a largely ineffective missile strike against Syria, a half a million people have died in the Syrian civil war, some of them from previous poison gas attacks. Given President Trump's past pronouncements regarding non-intervention in Syria, should I assume he was okay with 500,000 dead but 500,089 was simply too much. Is that's it? 500,000 dead wasn't a good enough reason but... 500,089? Enough is enough!

Still not enough to allow Syrian refugees - even children - into the country.

It's hard for me to see this as anything other than political opportunism.

The Trump presidency so far has been a train wreck that crashed into a dumpster fire. Calling it a fiasco is an insult to fiascoes. The health care debacle, the clown show congressional investigations into possible Trump campaign collusion with Putin's troll army, the Kushner-Bannon beef, the realization by everyone else on the planet that coal is so 20th century, Rex Tillerson's "grumpy cat" Secretary of State performance, the return to relevance of SNL with their savage parodies of Trump, Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway, Jeff Sessions and Trump sons Donald, Jr. and Eric; Republicans shoved Neil Gorsuch onto the Supreme Court but other than that there haven't been a lot of wins for President Trump in his first trimester.

The video of Syrian civilians dying a slow and horrifying death by poison gas was a gift to Donald J. Trump and his failing presidency.

He could show he was bold and decisive while doing something President Obama didn't do. Win win! He wouldn't bother with the Constitution and congressional approval; what good is it to be Commander in Chief if you don't get to launch a few missiles on your own every now and then? He could put to rest - if only briefly - the noise about Putin and the legitimacy of his election. If he was Putin's puppet he wouldn't touch Bashar al-Assad or risk Russian casualties, would he? He would secure the approval of his harshest and most respected critics, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two guys who would've had ground troops in Syria a long time ago.

Of course, he would have to warn the Russians and of course the Russians would warn the Syrians which of course would make the missile strike a largely symbolic fireworks display for mass media consumption but that would be another win. As much as he derides the "fake news," Trump knows he needs them, too. He owned the news cycle like he has for all the wrong reasons in the past but this time he was cheered for taking on Assad. He was presidential. Everyone seemed happy to ignore the fact that this wasn't a targeted drone attack on a terrorist outpost, this was - whatever we think of Assad - a strike against a sovereign nation.

Well, not everyone.

There were those progressive, liberal, sore loser Democrat sticklers for the Constitution who showed up on "Real Time with Bill Maher" or "AM Joy" on MSNBC calling Trump's actions unconstitutional, an act of war, not to mention a dangerous, ill-considered act that could lead to unintentional and tragic consequences not just in Syria but throughout the Middle East, providing ISIS recruiters with yet another reason for the disaffected youth of Islam to enlist in their campaign for a Caliphate.

There are reports the Shayrat airbase the US struck with 59 Tomahawk missiles was back in business the next day. Russia has responded by deploying additional assets to the region and has publicly vowed to improve Syria's defenses against future strikes. Assad has already non-war-crime bombed the village he gassed, killing more civilians, killing more children. That hasn't generated a further military response from Trump.

What happens the next time Assad uses poison gas?

That is going to happen.

What is the US goal in Syria?

Regime change? We've been there done that, haven't we?

Oh, wait. Yeah. Right. Okay. I get it.

That war got George W. Bush re-elected.

I guess even those that remember history are doomed to repeat it.

Whether we want to or not.