In the wake of a questionable decision to attack Syria with airstrikes, the internet has gone a little crazy. Now, I am not a supporter of President Donald Trump nor am I defending him, but was the decision to conduct airstrikes in Syria all that different from attacks that former President Obama had ordered on ISIS territory in 2015? 

Many people have gone ballistic saying that World War III is on the horizon, when in reality, Trump made a tough call. So let’s look at what lead to this decision and then compare it to President Obama’s airstrikes three years ago. 

On Friday, April 13, 2018, the United States, Britain and France attacked Syrian complexes under the control of President Bashar al-Assad. In the international community, Assad is a textbook dictator and lunatic. In his most recent stunt, he used chemical weapons to murder his own citizens. 

This is not the first time this has happened, as Assad has continuously used chemical weapons against a rebel army that opposes his regime. I am rather glad that we came to Syria’s aid, as to truly end the reign of a man like Assad, it is going to take force. 

This is not even the first time Trump has done this. Just one year ago, Trump ordered airstrikes on Syria after Assad used chemical weapons to murder 80 people. If you have never watched someone die from a chemical weapon, then I implore you to look it up and find the “60 Minutes” episode where they show people dying from the use of Assad’s weapons. It is truly terrifying, and completely unacceptable to attack anyone this way. 

Starting in 2014, there were over 3,000 U.S. led airstrikes on Syria. Again, the Obama administration approved this and were fighting for the same reasons. ISIS held territory in Syria and was at the height of their power. In fact the famous Paris attacks had recently occurred causing France to join the U.S. in these attacks.

Attacking radical groups like ISIS or terrifying leaders like Assad is something that we have to do, it is almost an obligation. War is an ugly thing, and I hate it, but we cannot allow terror to ruin the lives of the citizens of the Middle East. 

What the internet is going crazy over is the fact that Trump ordered an attack. The man is certainly no military expert and he is by far not a great president. But the man is human, and I believe after he sees footage such as those being murdered by chemical weapons, he feels compelled to do something when he has so much power. Maybe that isn’t what the internet fears. Maybe it’s the fact that Russia has publicly announced their support for Assad and his decisions. 

Funny how that works. Crazy dictator Vladimir Putin supports crazy dictator Assad? It is scary that we could be on the brink of war with Russia, but are we going to war for the wrong reason?

Despite what the internet will tell you about the U.S. going to war in order to seize control of Syria’s oil, is it that hard to believe that we want to go after this lunatic who is murdering innocent people?

I’m not condoning war, but madmen like Assad cannot be allowed to freely decimate innocent people. Trump may have made a controversial decision, but every second we get closer to the end of Assad’s reign, the closer we get to a better world.