Ways to win other than war

"But to quote Colin Powell, if we have to go to war, we will do it with overwhelming force. There is no doubt in my mind, if push came to shove, Jim Mattis would help us win the day. That is - if it came to that."

Trump did it again. He positioned some missile launching assets close to Syria, and then tweeted that "Get ready, Here come our missiles. New, shiny and smart." Russia thought we were on the verge of a nuclear world war. Syria was busy trying to hide or conceal everything they wanted protected, and Russian radio has told the Russian people to "get ready to get to fallout shelters." And then - nothing.

Putin was so afraid that an attack was immanent that he called Bebe and begged Israel not to join the coalition to attack Syria. Now these guys are not buddies, so for this phone call to take place was nothing short of extraordinary. 

Here is a different take on how to punish Syria as well as teach Russia a lesson in supporting the "gas thug Assad". Once immutable prove is obtained that the gas did in fact come from Syria, give Russia one more chance to condemn Assad and stand against him.

The United Nations, once this proof becomes public and publicly acknowledged, MUST impose the most crippling sanctions on Syria in UN history. If Russia does not go along with it, or tries to blunt it, more crippling sanctions will be imposed on Russia also. This would put us one step away from a total blockade of Syria. We can either do that, or spend another $100M or so lobbing cruise missiles which after a few months, will have proven to have little effect. Plus - it could potentially bring Russia into a hot war with us.

Our military, as depleted as it is after the Obama years, is still formidable. If we wanted to, we could lay waste to Syria. But to what end? The Syrian people have suffered under Assad, his father, ISIS, and a prolonged civil war. These people have seen more misery than most would see in a hundred lifetimes.

One other thing we could do. Tell Assad he needs to come clean about the attack, resign, and turn himself into the world court to stand trial. If he does not, we will assassinate him. We will assassinate him, his heirs, and his inner circle. We will tell him we have the technology to do this from afar, and it is very accurate and very deadly. Once this is put in motion, there is no place to hide where he, his family, and his stooges would be safe.

War is expensive and risky. Plus, unnecessary many times. War should always be looked upon as our last resort. But to quote Colin Powell, if we have to go to war, we will do it with overwhelming force. There is no doubt in my mind, if push came to shove, Jim Mattis would help us win the day. That is - if it came to that.