Seymour Hersh wrote an excellent article in Welt on June 25, 2017 discussing the decision to bomb a Syrian military airfield.  This is an example of the kind of journalism thinking people like; a search for the truth and the courage to challenge the popular narrative.  If what he says turns out to be true, then serious actions should be taken.  None of those, however, are being discussed in public.

President Trump claimed that the Syrians deliberately performed a chemical weapons attack against the rebels on April 4.  In response, he ordered an attack against the airfield from which the alleged attack took place.  This attack took place on April 6.  Syrian reports indicate there were multiple civilian deaths, perhaps as many as nine, including four children.

Hersh claims that there was no chemical attack.  Instead, it was an attack using a conventional bomb.  The attack had been clearly communicated to the US using conventional channels by the Russians and the Syrians.

There might have been a release of chemicals that were stored by the rebels in the building that was hit by the bomb.

Hersh claims that Trump was informed that there was no evidence that this was a chemical attack by the Syrians.

If we still had institutions that operated in the American tradition, here is what would happen.

Congress would conduct an investigation regarding this affair.  If what Hersh claims is confirmed, then Congress would be faced with the fact that our President committed an act of violent aggression, an act of war, in a foreign country which killed innocent people and destroyed property.  The justification given by the President, therefore, was knowingly false.

If Hersh’s story bears out as true, then this is a solid reason to impeach, convict, and remove the President from office.

Again, if Hersh is correct, the President had military and intelligence advisors, as well as civilians such as the US Ambassador to the UN, carry out his orders who knew that the attack was not in retaliation for a chemical attack, but rather an unprovoked act of violence that was likely to result in the murder of innocents.  All of those people should likewise be forced from office.

Americans owe it to the brave people who speak out and tell the truth in this matter, such as Hersh.  People who stand up for the truth are likely to lose their jobs and be ostracized, so it would help if Americans of good will would find a way to employ these patriots.