SHUCK AND AWE.

It is clear that Americans like to blow things up. Brian Williams called the Tomahawk missiles beautiful as they were fired off. The Washington Post loved the idea of bombing a Syrian airbase. The neo-conservatives supported Trump and General Keane said that Trump sent a message to the world. What that message is--is anyone's guess. 

Did you get the shot of the briefing room? The Trump team made it look like Obama overseeing the bin Laden raid. Some wag circled the figures in green and red to symbolize Goldman Sachs and those that owed Goldman Sachs money.

The Pentagon said the raid was limited and that no others would occur. They also released a press release that they were investigating whether Russia was behind the chemical weapons attack on the Syrians. Previously the UN had certified that 95% of the chemical weapons had been destroyed. Now the Wall Street Journal and Bob Kagan blames it all on Obama.

A couple of facts. We did notify the Russians beforehand and personnel and equipment were removed from the scene. We did not destroy the Sarin containers at the airbase nor did we destroy the runways. For $60 million Trump got the Photos that he was a man of action. But that's about it. One missile attack does not make a policy.
 I am glad it was proportional and obviously it did not change the political equation one whit.

It seems to me that it showed how weak the United States is at this moment. That a cruise missile attack can generate a debate over meaning. It is clear to me that the United States can not generate another Iraq War anytime soon. There doesn't seem to be the stomach for it.

We are in a hot war in Afghanistan,Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Somalia not to mention where our special forces are. Before the Syrian strike,the week before saw several casualties there of American soldiers. 

Retired Generals complained that Trump declared the strike as "within the national security interest of the United States" when it wasn't. And many congresspeople insisted he get the permission from the Congress before any next steps. We've been through this before with no resolution.

We will have to wait for a policy statement from Trump in the days ahead.