Opinion: The lesson of Trump’s Syria strike: Being president is not about ‘winning’

To the editor: The crisis in Syria reminds us all, including President Trump, of the tremendous weight of the American presidency. (“Syria crisis tests Trump’s plan for a new world order,” April 7)

Seeing pictures of Syrian children gassed by their own leader prompted the president to retaliate with a missile attack. Whether this was the right thing to do remains to be seen. Was it a noble and strong warning to Bashar Assad that we will not tolerate this cruelty? Or will it spur further attacks on innocent Syrians? Will the United States respond to further acts of violence?

This is not easy. As the debates over healthcare and immigration and now the strike against Syria show, the person who holds this office bears the weight of millions of human lives. This is not about “winning,” as there is much more at stake here than money.

Christina Gilmore, San Diego

..

To the editor: Exactly what do we call the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children? Would anyone morally responsible consider the genocide of the Syrian people the “right of a sovereign state”?

I can only speak for myself when I say is it difficult to look at Assad’s smiling face in the news when he bombs and gases his own people. It is equally disturbing to hear his most important ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, describe the strike in a Syrian air base as an “act of aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law.”

Barbara Porter, Palm Desert

..

To the editor: I am neither an isolationist nor a pacifist , yet I am appalled by the generally positive reaction to Trump’s action of firing cruise missiles at the Syrian military base.

Has this country still not learned the hard lesson that it’s much easier getting into a war than getting out? Isn’t it clear that we have a narcissist president who may take aggressive military action just to garner positive reviews?

Heaven help us when his unformed foreign policy, subject to impulsive action, turns to such dangerous conundrums as North Korea.

Daniel Hennessy, Arcadia

..

To the editor: When will we see the same concern for children and other civilians who were killed in a U.S.-led air strike in Mosul last month?

Innocent people were killed there too, and by our own planes, but we see no crocodile tears from Trump over them.

Joyce Hargreaves, Redondo Beach

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook