A Strike in Syria Restores Our Credibility in the World
After President Bashar al-Assad of Syria
once again attacked his own citizens with poison gas, the civilized
world recoiled in horror at images of children writhing in pain and
suffocating to death. President Trump voiced this justified outrage at a
news conference on Wednesday, and the next day he took swift, decisive
action against the outlaw Assad regime. But these strikes did more than
simply punish Mr. Assad and deter future attacks; they have gone a long
way to restoring our badly damaged credibility in the world.
It’s
hard to overstate just how low the standing of the United States had
fallen because of President Barack Obama’s failure to enforce his own
“red line” against Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons in 2013. I was
one of the few Republican members of Congress who supported strikes
against Syria then. Because of that, I’ve heard from dozens of world
leaders expressing their doubts about the security commitments of the
United States.
These
doubts originated from surprising places. Of course our longtime Arab
allies expressed their misgivings. Yet European and even Asian leaders
have privately wondered to me whether the red-line fiasco called into
question America’s security alliances in their regions. While far
removed from the Middle East, they still depend on the United States and
the threat of force to defend our mutual interests.
It
wasn’t only Mr. Obama’s refusal to act in the moment that undermined
our credibility. The fig leaf to justify inaction was an agreement with
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to remove Syria’s chemical
weapons, which Russia and Syria plainly violated from the outset. Yet
Obama administration officials continued to celebrate it as a triumph.
It’s
also worth remembering that Mr. Obama backed down partly because he so
badly wanted a nuclear deal with Mr. Assad’s patron, Iran. ...
-go to link-
No comments:
Post a Comment