US Lawmaker Urges Trump to Form Syria Strategy, Not Just Launch Strike

Rasa - US Congresswoman Maxine Waters said the US President Donald Trump should have come to the Congress to form the strategy on Syria rather than authorizing a strike on the country's airbase.

News ID: 428827

Date: 11 April 2017 - 21:38

RNA - Waters stated via Twitter that the White House should have come to Congress to develop a coherent strategy on Syria instead of deciding to launch a missile strike on a Syrian airbase last week and delivering a brief speech afterwards, RIA Novosti reported.

"Delivering one scripted speech before Congress and bombing another country doesn't make you presidential," Waters, a Democrat from Washington, DC, tweeted.

On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase. President Donald Trump said the bombardment of the airbase was conducted in response to a chemical attack on civilians on Tuesday that killed more than 80 people, including children.

Waters argued that Syrian President Bashar Assad's actions must be addressed through a "thoughtful and coherent strategy" with Congress.

"I don't trust President Donald Trump with that task," she added.

On Monday, US Defense Secretary James Mattis stated the goal of the strike was to show the United States will not stand by while Assad murders innocent civilians.

The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons on the Syrian people, and moreover has stated it does not have chemical weapons. The Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons confirmed in January 2016 that it destroyed Syria’s entire chemical weapons arsenal.

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