What Is Trump's Syria Policy?
DAVID A. GRAHAM
1:04 PM ET
... The U.S. ambassador to the UN has staked out a position that seems opposite to Tillerson, who is ostensibly her boss. “There is no political solution that any of us can see with Assad at the lead,” she told CNN on Sunday. On Wednesday, the day before the U.S. missile launch, Haley spoke forcefully about the chemical-weapons attack in Idlib, and she was the first administration official to say publicly that the U.S. might launch unilateral strikes in response. She also tangled with Russia in the UN Security Council. Haley might or might not be the architect of U.S. policy, but her statements are emerging as the most reliable indicator of where American action is headed. She’s pushing Tillerson in her direction, too, as his rhetoric toward Russia becomes more aggressive.
Neither Trump’s daughter nor her husband has any foreign-policy experience, nor does either have a job specifically related to diplomacy, but they do have the president’s ear. Eric Trump, Ivanka’s brother, credited Ivanka Trump’s influence for the airstrikes during an interview with The Telegraph, saying the vision of suffering children in the wake of the chemical-weapons attack was operative. “Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said: ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff,’” he said. “My father will act in times like that.” New York’s Gabriel Sherman reported that Kushner, who just returned from a widely mocked trip to Iraq, was a major advocate for military force.
The White House press secretary is not supposed to make policy from the lectern, but Spicer seems to have inadvertently done so on Monday. “If you gas a baby, if you put a barrel bomb into innocent people, I think you will see a response from this president,” Spicer said. That statement sounded close to Tillerson’s maximalism, but it stood at odds with Trump’s views before he became president. The White House has argued, in essence, that Trump was right to counsel caution years ago, but also right to act now because of the horrific Idlib attack. But Spicer’s phrasing makes clear that this is a distinction without a difference, since Assad was gassing children and barrel-bombing innocent people years ago ...
... The president has shown a willingness to deploy the military, but he has not made clear when he will or won’t do it, and he has not laid out clearly what his goals are. In the absence of leadership from the top, a range of advisers are offering their own ideas.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/what-is-trumps-syria-policy/522669/
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