An American billionaire and member of U.S. President Donald Trump's cabinet joked about a recent missile strike on Syria, calling it "after-dinner entertainment."
“Just as dessert was being served, the president explained to Mr. Xi [the president of China] he had something he wanted to tell him, which was the launching of 59 missiles into Syria. It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told a laughing crowd at a conference on Monday, according to Variety.
“The thing was, it didn’t cost the president anything to have that entertainment," he added for a punchline.
So, war is just free entertainment for the billionaire president of the U.S. and his posse?
Entertainment after 'beautiful' chocolate cake
At least six people >were killed in the April strike, which came in response to a chemical attack – allegedly carried out by Syrian government forces– that left at least 80 civilians dead.
Trump previously bragged about the strike. He shared his account of the attack by talking about the "beautiful" chocolate cake he ate with the Chinese president prior to launching the missiles.
"I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We're now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you've ever seen and President Xi was enjoying it, and I was given the message from the generals that the ships are locked and loaded," Trump >said in an interview with FOX Business.
Trump went on to say that the missiles had been fired at Iraq. The president was corrected by the interviewer, who pointed out they were actually fired at Syria.
No entertainment for dead civilians
While military strikes may be humorous "entertainment" enjoyed after eating "beautiful" chocolate cake for the billionaire leaders of the U.S., they are far from entertaining or funny to those on the ground.
Airstrikes carried out by the United States >killed some 477 civilians in Iraq and Syria in March alone, according to data compiled by the British watchdog group Airwars.
When strikes from other armies involved in the U.S. coalition are factored in, that number is estimated to be almost 1,000.
The U.S. military has disputed these numbers, claiming that only 352 civilians have been killed by its coalition strikes against ISIS since 2014. But Airwars has put the total number at more than 3,000.
In early April, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. general commanding the fight against ISIS, brushed off civilian deaths as "an unintentional accident of war."