Triumphant Trump Declares: Mission Accomplished

If this thing goes any further, or if there are retaliatory strikes, this is something that could definitely come back to haunt President Trump.

In a Saturday morning tweet, Trump crowed about the “successful” strike in Syria on Friday evening, and declared: Mission accomplished.

Easy there, Hubris-boy. I think we have the finest military in the world, as well. Simpering liberal experimentation, aside, they’re still the best. These aren’t toy soldiers you’re playing with, either, so let’s keep things in sober reflection, given the serious undertaking.

The last time the words, “Mission accomplished” caught heat, it was during the Iraq war, in 2003. President George W. Bush landed aboard an aircraft carrier and gave a speech, as a “Mission Accomplished” banner was displayed behind him.

The fact that that conflict stretched on, far beyond 2003 has dogged Bush, ever since.

To be fair, that banner wasn’t there for Bush, but rather, that particular carrier had a specific mission, which they had recently completed, and the banner was for them, not Bush. Its unfortunate placement has led many to assume this was Bush’s “Mission accomplished” moment.

It wasn’t.

U.S. defense officials were expected to give details on Saturday on the effectiveness of the strikes. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday night characterized the strikes as a stronger response to Assad than a strike against a Syrian air base last year following a previous chemical weapons attack.

“Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year,” Mattis told reporters in a press briefing at the Pentagon. “This time our allies and we have struck harder.”

“We used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year,” Mattis added. “We were very precise and proportionate, but at the same time, it was a heavy strike.”

They’re saying this was a one-shot deal, with no plans to carry out any more strikes, at this time.

The strike was in response to the recent, horrific chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held city of Douma. More than 40 people were killed in that attack, and though the Syrian government, along with their benefactors, Russia, have denied it happened, nobody really believes a word they’re saying.

Today’s press conference, giving an assessment of the damages should be interesting. By the time the targeted attack on 3 sites ended, reports were coming out that most or all personnel and equipment had been evacuated.

Then this:

Interesting.

Just how successful this strike will be as a deterrent may very well come down to how much real damage was done. If this is true, and there was little damage for the amount of money it took to launch last night’s strike, it’s hard to justify the “Mission accomplished” narrative.

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