Earlier this week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on his own people that resulted in the loss of live of nearly 100 people. In response, Donald Trump decided to fire close to 60 tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase, but not everyone is happy with what took place.
Trump trouble
In recent years, the civil war in Syria has resulted in thousands of deaths at the hands of Bashar al-Assad. During that time, former President Barack Obama was conflicted in how he wanted to handle the situation, much in part because Russia and Iran, two global powerhouse nations, were backing the Syrian government.
Over the course of the 2016 presidential election, the conflict in Syria was brought up, and Donald Trump vowed to pull back the United States from nearly all aspects of the Middle East. His approach resonated with millions of Americans who were tired of the United States being seen as the "world's police." However, after the former host of "The Apprentice" made his decision to attack Syria, many critics, and some supporters, were quick to highlight Trump's hypocrisy on the issue at hand. As seen during a April 8 segment on CNN, a former CIA official is speaking out.
During a CNN segment on Saturday night, ex-CIA operative Robert Baer joined host Ana Cabrera and opened up about the aforementioned incident, while warning against potential action in the future.
"There is an ethnic sectarian division there," Baer said, before going through the history of the Syrian conflict dating back to World War 2. Baer went on to note that Assad was the head of the Alawite Muslim-minority in the country, stating, "You can remove him today and you might get somebody that's much worse."
Trump preparing broad Syria strategy for Congress https://t.co/dtCaj5pHch pic.twitter.com/wioaVETvJE
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 8, 2017
"I don't think this administration (Donald Trump) understands the complexity of Syria," Robert Baer went on to say.
"We are heading into a quagmire of enormous consequences with Iran and Russia," he continued, while explaining, "This is not going well."
‘This is not going well’: Ex-CIA officer says ‘enormous consequences’ may follow Trump’s Syria attack https://t.co/kxct5N2Smi pic.twitter.com/BsyLjQ3cWq
— Raw Story (@RawStory) April 9, 2017
Moving forward
After making a short statement on the attack from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday night, Donald Trump opened up more on Saturday night.
The former host of "The Apprentice" tweeted out his defense on the issue, highlighting why he decided to direct the missiles at the Syrian airbase and runway. Not long after, Trump sent a letter to Congress elaborating further on why he launched the attack, but still kept his explanation vague, while only citing his Article II powers to justify the attack. As of press time, it's unknown what the next steps will be by the Trump administration, or by the Syrian government and their allies.