He said Mr. Trump had concluded after seeing the results of the chemical attack that the United States could no longer “turn away, turn a blind eye.”<br />“The more we fail to respond to the use of these weapons, the more we begin to normalize their use,” Mr. Tillerson<br />said, a thinly veiled reference to President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from strikes in 2013.<br />WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday night that the United States had carried out a missile strike in Syria<br />in response to the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack this week, which killed more than 80 civilians.<br />Dozens of U. S. Missiles Hit Air Base in Syria -<br />By MICHAEL R. GORDON, HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL D. SHEARAPRIL 6, 2017<br />President Trump spoke after the United States carried out a missile attack in Syria<br />on Thursday in response to the Syrian government’s deadly chemical weapons attack.<br />“It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”<br />Mr. Trump — who was accompanied by senior advisers, including Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist; Reince Priebus, his chief of staff; his daughter Ivanka Trump;<br />and others — said his decision had been prompted in part by what he called the failures by the world community to respond effectively to the Syrian civil war.
