He said Mr. Trump had concluded after seeing the results of the chemical attack that the United States could no longer “turn away, turn a blind eye.”
“The more we fail to respond to the use of these weapons, the more we begin to normalize their use,” Mr. Tillerson
said, a thinly veiled reference to President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from strikes in 2013.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday night that the United States had carried out a missile strike in Syria
in response to the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack this week, which killed more than 80 civilians.
Dozens of U. S. Missiles Hit Air Base in Syria -
By MICHAEL R. GORDON, HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL D. SHEARAPRIL 6, 2017
President Trump spoke after the United States carried out a missile attack in Syria
on Thursday in response to the Syrian government’s deadly chemical weapons attack.
“It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”
Mr. Trump — who was accompanied by senior advisers, including Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist; Reince Priebus, his chief of staff; his daughter Ivanka Trump;
and others — said his decision had been prompted in part by what he called the failures by the world community to respond effectively to the Syrian civil war.