Lanhee Chen: When America Leads

Last week, the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad likely launched a chemical weapons attack that killed over seventy of his own people and injured many others. Assad is guilty of many heinous acts against the Syrian people, which together have triggered one of the great refugee and humanitarian crises in modern history. Assad’s latest attack included the use of advanced nerve agents—its victims included numerous babies and children. In 2012, President Obama announced that the use of chemical weapons by Assad would breach a “red line” that would trigger a U.S. military response. A year later, Assad used those weapons, and nothing happened. This was but one of the many foreign policy failures of the previous administration. President Trump should be applauded for taking decisive action to attack the air base from which Assad launched his vicious attack. There are no easy answers in Syria, though, and it may not be the last time that America needs to exercise her military might. But we know for sure is that the world is a better place when America leads.