MSNBC counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance crashed Donald Trump’s “Mission Accomplished” party on Saturday morning, explaining how ineffective Friday’s Syrian airstrikes were.
In an interview with Joy Reid, Nance said the bombings were likely just for show more than anything else.
“There is no strategy,” the counterterrorism expert said, blasting Trump. “We did nothing to present a threat to the regime itself.”
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Trump’s #SyriaStrikes “did nothing to present a threat to the regime itself,” Malcolm Nance says. #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/hAPGi1vxCy
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 14, 2018
Nance said:
No, there is no rational reason for that because there’s no strategy. Strategy involves long-term planning so that when you do something you understand the consequences of what was done and then what you have to do is manage those consequences. We are not doing that. What we are doing is flailing about and as much as I like carrying out an airstrike against people that really deserve it, that’s precisely what we have here. We went out, we struck the organizational infrastructure of the chemical weapons, but we did nothing to present a threat to the regime itself.
Trump declared the military intervention on Saturday a “Mission Accomplished,” but it’s not clear how the airstrikes will change the trajectory of the dire situation in Syria, especially if Bashar al-Assad doesn’t feel threatened.
Dropping bombs in the Middle East, as we’ve learned in the past, makes for good television, but it hardly ever leads to a long-term solution.
Trump’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ tweet will come back to haunt him
If there’s one piece of advice every president should heed, it’s to not declare “Mission Accomplished” about a complex military intervention, particularly in the Middle East.
George W. Bush learned this lesson in 2003 when he made the same declaration about the Iraq war. To this day, America still has U.S. troops in Iraq. That military intervention wasn’t just a catastrophe, but it destabilized the region and paved the way for the rise of ISIS – hardly a “Mission Accomplished.”
In the same way, Trump’s declaration on Saturday is premature at best. As PoliticusUSA’s Sarah Jones pointed out on Saturday, citing Reuters, “some Syria chemical weapons infrastructure is left behind.”
“Pentagon says some Syria chemical weapons infrastructure is left but strikes dealt severe blow,” per Reuters.
Which is almost like Trump’s “Mission accomplished”, but not.
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 14, 2018
Like countless Trump tweets over the years, this one could come back to haunt him.
The humanitarian crisis in Syria requires more than flashy U.S. airstrikes. It requires a long-term strategy using U.S. diplomacy, economic sanctions, and thoughtful military options.
Unfortunately, the U.S. commander-in-chief is neither thoughtful nor does he ever think outside of the moment. That makes the possibility of a true “Mission Accomplished” much less likely.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
