President Donald Trump's fraught and highly illegal attack on Syria this week in retaliation for an equally disputed chemical 'attack,' in which as many as 86 people perished at the alleged hands of the Syrian Arab Army on the literal eve of peace talks is being criticized by experts and cagey politicians at every level of government — including former CIA officer Philip Giraldi.

That Russian forces or those of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would gas to death scores of guiltless civilians is nothing short of a "sham," according to grumblings within the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Trump managed this injudicious assault with 59 Tomahawk missiles on a sovereign nation without even the pretext of congressional approval, prior to cursory investigation, and in clear violation of domestic and international law, with results expectedly dire — including the deaths of at least nine civilians — four of them, children.

Washington's neocon war hawks and their counterparts overseas couldn't heap sanctimonious praise on the now-apparently-interventionist president's reckless provocation quickly enough — nor could members of various terror groups.