Hitting Syria Over Khan Sheikhoun – A Most Unwise Move

by Eze Eluchie,

With critical campaign promises in the area of Health Care Reforms and banning Muslims from coming to the United States being declared dead-on-arrival, key appointees and allies having to be demoted or step down from sensitive positions, increasing civilian fatalities from operations in Mosul, and growing apprehension regarding the continuing investigations into Russian interference in the US 2016 Presidential elections, the Donald Trump led government in the US would give a leg-and-an-arm for whatsoever that will divert attention from its domestic woes.

Desperate for a distraction, a chemical weapon attack on Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, the perpetrators of which had not yet been ascertained by any one, looked and proved too good to forgo as a ruse to distract Americans from a Trump presidency that was becoming a fiasco. Clearly without thinking the implications through, the US administration jumped at the opportunity provided by the images of several victims of the chemical weapon attack in Khan Sheikhoun splashed across television screens globally, and ordered the bombardment of a Syrian Airbase as ‘punishment’ for the chemical weapon attack earlier in the week - ostensibly as a ploy to divert public attention from falling ratings of the President in the US.

When one realizes that independent investigations by United Nations experts had been inconclusive as to who between the Government and rebel forces had deployed and unleashed previous chemical weapon attacks in the Syrian war, and that some of the rebel forces had been established to have the capacity to produce and stock chemical weapons (ISIS had routinely released chemical weapons against Iraqi forces in the ongoing efforts to liberate Mosul and other terror-held territories), it becomes plausible that by its over-hasty reaction, the US has rendered its enormous might as a tool that can easily be instigated by rebel forces and terror elements by the mere release of a chemical weapon attack. To rebel forces and terror elements who have routinely used civilians as human shields and to whom suicide bombing is an acceptable war strategy, there would be no qualms whatsoever in unleashing a chemical weapon attack in rebel held areas, kill a couple of civilians and gain additional US airstrikes and increased involvement in the Syrian war against the Syrian government.

The immediate message the US bombardment sends to the ‘moderate extremists’ and terror elements engaged in battle against the Assad government in Syria is that; if you want to get United States involved in the war against Syria, unleash chemical weapon attacks anywhere in Syria. As a direct consequence of the US reaction, it is now expected that more horrific chemical weapon attacks will be conducted by the rebels/moderate extremists/terror elements against whom the Syrian government has been engaged in combat over the past more than 6 years.  Chemical weapons will be deployed with greater frequency in the hope of attracting more US airstrikes against the Syrian government.

And what happens if a US airstrike in Syria hits one of the several Russian Air and military installations in Syria?

Considering the policy reversal (within a spate of less than one week from when President Trump had announced that regime change would not be the foundation of US interests in Syria) which the bombardment of the Syrian Airbase symbolizes, and the likelihood of similar rash reactions to other flashpoints across the world where the countries concerned have the potential to strike back, particularly the North Korea situation, possible skirmishes in the South China Seas, and possible confrontation with Iran over diverse issues, one can conclude that  with a President Donald Trump in power, the world has never been closer, since the end of WWII to a conflict where the possibilities of deploying weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear and chemical weapons).

Technically speaking, the attacks against Syria are in addition to being in violation of International laws, also a violation of domestic United States statutes. There has been no pretence of or allegations that the Syrian government had in any way attacked or posed a threat to US interests, thus the mere unsubstantiated allegations that the Syrian government was responsible for the chemical weapon attacks in Khan Sheikhoun can not serve as justification for the US to unleash an unprovoked war of aggression against a sovereign state. At the domestic level, the 'War Powers Resolution' expressly any US President to secure congressional approval prior to launching any military attack on any country that has not attacked the US. No such congressional approval was sought or given in this instance, making the attacks on Syria earlier today unlawful under US laws. .

More and better thinking caps are needed in the White House with regards to dealing with foreign policy issues before the world is thrown into needless apocalyptic conflagrations.

Picture: One of the 59 Tomahawk missiles launched against the Syrian airbase