Page 5 - Tomahawk Strike News Today

Obama administration allowed them to build. they should be out of the middle east entirely. thats what sadat did when he expelled the soviet advisors. it was bipartisan american policy ever since to keep the russians out and obama let them back. in. steve: all right. ambassador john bolton joining us today from washington, d.c. thank you very much for your analysis on the u.s. tomahawk strike last night in syria. all right. it is 18 minutes now after the top of the hour. were starting to get som...

Talking to us about congress men and women who were not in favor of this decision necessarily because the president didnt go to them first to get authorization and said it is unlawful? >> the president has to have the ability to rapidly respond to situations like this. and part of the criticism is based in the falsehood that this has no national security need behind it. and the reason its a falsehood because that air base in syria has been linked to hezbollah and the iranian revolutionary guards...

Might do and put our pilots and our navy personnel and our soldiers on the ground at risk. so i think thats incredibly important. and then we also didnt mother may i to the russians like we have the last 8 years. pete: colonel, a lot of people looking at this strike very targeted precision strike against one facility based on chemical use. >> right. pete: there is also speculation about the future of assad: could we have taken out all of his air assets and airfields? whats the tipping point to w...

Destroyed all the chemical stockpiles in syria that we know and gone further and taken out more of the syrian air force. this was the strike he ordered. i think it was a very clear signal. the ball is in moscows court and assads court. steve: sure. what about the fact that the images that came out tuesday of the people from syria who were killed with this poison gas attack, obviously, with this strike, the president is showing, look, there is a new sheriff in town. im going to protect the people...

>> good to see you. >> does he sign off? >> he has authority to do it on his own. its a smart move to consult congress. the only thing thats a shame, he should have consulted congress before he started making threats pout red line. we lost credit able because he made threats he may not be able to deliver on. thats really the problem here. >> that line, red line. it might have even been an ad lib. is that something you dont do? is that the lesson we learn here? >> i think even kids in the schooly...

Make sense of all this. >> one senior official says the presidents goal is to make military action regardless whether or not they vote approval. the administration has broad legal powers to take military action. many lawmakers would prefer he does take action only at their approval. certainly a flip in the administrations reaction. first a feeling the strike was imminent, then the president announcing to the world they will wait to see how congress votes on the issue before any final decisions a...

We are certainly telegraphing for syria. >> still not clear, most interesting part what is the point. the president has said on one hand our long-term goal is to replace the assad regime, that is our goal. that is not the point. the point is merely to teach assad a lesson. >> retired navy commander gordon says the strike is long overdue. >> its a smart move to consult the congress. the only thing thats really a shame here is he should have consulted congress before he started making threats abou...

The move to postpone a strike only adds to that sentiment. in syria, government officials said the military there would remain on high alert despite the postponement and assad regime would react if attacked by america. one went on to say america has lost the battle. there are different views of what has taken place. here in israel and across the middle east in terms of closest allies of america theres a lot of concern not only about a strike but the overall postponement means for the entire rela...

I think this action was diseae e decisive. >> reporter: this is a reversal from the stance in 2013 when he called on the obama administration to stay out of the country. aides say the president was disturbed by the chemical he weapons attack after seeingvict >> no child of god should suffer. >> we cannot in one breath speak of protecting syrian babies and the next close americas door to them. >> reporter: the national security adviser says the travel ban restricting syrian refugees did not come ...

150 years ago. perhaps moscow misses it. more on that in a moment. jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. what exactly are you hearing out of syria? >> senior u.s. defense officials say in the wake of the u.s. tomahawk strike, syria moved all of their aircraft into a base along the coast. this is after the attack destroying two dozen jets. the syrian air force relocated in the past few days. yesterday there were 40 combat flights from that russian base, shep. >> shepard: i mentioned for a second...