WASHINGTON, D.C. — Second District Congressman Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) says he doesn’t believe President Donald Trump will put U.S. troops on the ground in Syria following last week’s air strikes.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re going to involve ourselves in the civil war, certainly not beyond what he already did,” Mooney said on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
President Trump issued the air strikes on a Syrian airbase last week alleging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for a chemical attack that left 80 people dead, including children.
Mooney said “something had to be done.”
“It’s hard to watch these children being killed that way and stand back and do nothing,” he said.
Mooney called Trump’s action a “one time air strike.” When asked by MetroNews “Talkline” Host Hoppy Kercheval if the decision was in conflict with Trump’s “America First” concept, Mooney said it was not.
“The one air strike on one base, right now, I don’t think goes against that,” he said. “I do think America is still first. We’ve been a world leader in the past. People look to us for leadership, so if America doesn’t get involved, no other countries do, as a general rule.”
The President’s next move will have to depend on how Syria and other surrounding countries respond to the air strikes, Mooney said.
“I don’t think the President has to lay out for everyone to see a strategy because I think it changes depending upon what al-Assad does, Russia does and other countries in that area,” he said. “I think we need international support.”
Both U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito have also come out in support of the strikes.