Admiral William McRaven, who's the author of Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life... And Maybe The World, explains why the Trump administration's decision to attack a base controlled by the Syrian government was the right decision. Following is a transcript of the video.
I think in the case of our reaction to Syria this time it was the exact right thing to do. It was appropriate. It was, as we say, proportional, recognizing that the heinous act conducted by the Syrians in dropping the sarin — that is, I'm not sure I would say it's always proportional. That was a terrible act, but our response was again, appropriate and proportional and the right thing to do.
My expectation now is we will have a government-to-government discussion with the Russians to say, "Look, you are running out of options in terms of support to Assad, you need to move Assad on because we, the Americans, are still prepared to take the next couple of steps." And, again, I would hope those discussions are happening.
It's a long way, if ever, before we would put boots on the ground in a Syrian civil war context. That's not to say, we obviously have boots on the ground now fighting ISIS. This is a different set of circumstances when you start talking about going after or going against the Syrian government. My opinion is Assad has to go, you bet.