President Donald Trump acted quickly after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a horrific chemical attack against his own people, launching dozens of cruise missiles as a clear warning to the brutal dictator.
And former President Barack Obama advisors are cheering him for it — while simultaneously slamming their ex-boss for his weakness.
Two of Obama’s former top foreign policy advisors told Fox News that Obama’s inaction on Syria made the world a “more dangerous” place and established a precedent of military inaction from the U.S.
“In Syria, a major mistake was treating it like a humanitarian crises, when it was a major national security crises that has caused destabilization of our closest allies in Europe,” said Barry Pavel, senior director of defense policy and strategy on Obama’s national security council from 08′ to ’10.
“Syria has been a source of terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States, future attacks. I worry about that very much,” Pavel told Fox.
Obama’s consistent attempts to reconcile foreign policy issues with avoidance of military action gave foreign nations the freedom to defy international policies without consequence.
When describing how Obama made the world more dangerous, Pavel explained, “Because they knew that the Obama administration would never use military force for any purpose, they felt free to conduct their coercive actions in the South China Seas, the Russians went into Iran and Syria, and North Korea accelerated their nuclear arms program.”
Obama had developed a “red line” policy, threatening to take military action should Assad use chemical weapons against his people. But when that very thing happened in 2013 and it was clear that Assad crossed the red line, Obama failed to follow through.
Instead of military actions, Obama claimed he convinced Assad to turn over his chemical weapons – proven false by the most recent chemical attack.
Obama’s ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, admitted the administration was well aware that Assad still possessed chemical weapons, telling the New York Times, “We always knew we had not gotten everything, that the Syrians had not been fully forthcoming in their declaration.”
And Pavel and McFaul aren’t the only ones from Obama’s administration recognizing the massive mistakes made in regards to Syria.
Gary Samore, who served as Obama’s White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction, told Fox, “I applaud Trump. It was the kind of strike that Obama was planning — a limited military attack against the airfields in order to deter Assad from carrying out additional chemical weapons attacks, but he decided not to use it.”
He continued, “Obama made a huge mistake by saying he was going to go to Congress for authorization, it turned out he did not have the votes. Trump was very smart to do it without congressional support.”
These Obama aides likely have millions of reasons to be biased in favor of Obama. Their willingness to turn their backs on his policies are the best example of how Obama failed the Syrian people and America’s allies by not keeping his word — and proof that America (and the world) needs Trump’s strong leadership.
— The Horn editorial team