begin partial and selected questions by Bergen quotes:
Trump's attack on Syria -- a decisive action, a good speech,but...
1. Were the cruise missile strikes only a warning shot for the Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, or will they be part of larger campaign against him?
2. The war in Syria has displaced 14 million Syrians and half a million have been killed since Assad unleashed a brutal war on his own population six years ago. Does the Trump administration have a larger plan to protect Syrian civilians going forward?
3. The Russia connection: Assad
owes his continuation in power to the intervention of Russia in 2015 to
prop up his regime. Given Trump's warm feelings toward Russian
President Vladimir Putin and against the backdrop of investigations into
relationships between Trump campaign officials and the Russians, do the
cruise missile strikes on Thursday mark a clear repudiation by the
Trump administration of Putin? And how will the Russian leader react?
4. How does it end: Machiavelli
wisely noted, "Wars begin when you will but they don't end when you
please." Already Trump officials are saying that the cruise missile
strikes are only a limited response to the sarin gas attack and they are
not part of some larger campaign against Assad, but these are exactly
the same kinds of statements we have often heard when the United States
first gets involved in a conflict overseas.
5. What is the legal basis for the attack? The
Trump administration launched the cruise missile strikes in Syria, an
act of war, without a UN resolution or Congressional authorization. Will
the Trump administration attempt to get some buy-in from the US
Congress for any further military action in Syria? After all, it is
Congress that is supposed to authorize US military actions, not the
Commander in Chief who is tasked with carrying them out.
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