President Trump launched a missile strike on Syrian military targets Thursday evening, explaining later that the assault was in retaliation for a deadly chemical weapons attack that claimed the lives of at least 70 civilians.
U.S. military action has raised several major questions, including what authority Trump had to order such a thing.
“What is the legal justification for this strike?” the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza asked.
For an answer to that we turn to – Ryan Lizza.
“Syria hawks [should] be thrilled w/ deal. It will provide international law justification for US strike on Syria the sec Assad blocks 1 inspector,” he said in 2013 in reference to a deal brokered between the U.S. and Russia to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons.
The deal didn’t quite provide for military retaliation in the event Syria violated the agreement, but that would hardly matter from a justification standpoint, he explained.
“Same as in Iraq when Bush argued invasion was justified to enforce UN resolutions Saddam was violating,” Lizza said.
That’s the beauty of Twitter: Ask a question, get an answer.
(h/t Charles C. W. Cooke)
