President Donald Trump’s decision to strike a Syrian air base with cruise missiles last week was an appropriate response to the Syrian government’s recent use of sarin gas in attacking the town of Khan Sheikhoun, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said Tuesday in Hastings.

“I thought it was appropriate, it was proportional,” Bacon said in an interview with the Tribune following a visit to an area cattle-feeding operation. “We needed to let (President Bashar al) Assad know you can’t gas your own people.”

That understood, Bacon said, he sees the punitive strike against the air field as simply a one-time move letting Assad know the new U.S. president will follow through on threats of retaliation for unacceptable acts.

The problem, he said, is that tipping the scales one way or the other with military action in Syria is not likely to have a positive outcome.

“There is no good side in Syria,” Bacon said. “I think we should be cautious.”

Bacon, who took his seat representing Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in January, brings a military perspective to the Syrian question. He served 29 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a brigadier general in 2014 after service that included commanding the 55th Air Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, commanding the 435th Air Base Wing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and taking four deployments to the Middle East.

The story of Libya is a cautionary tale when it comes to U.S. intervention in pushing tyrants from power, said Bacon, who serves on the House Armed Services and Agriculture committees.

Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s longtime strongman leader and an old U.S. foe, was pushed from power in 2011. Chaos ensued, and Libya now is considered a “failed state.”

In the case of Syria, Bacon said, driving Assad from power might be a worthy goal, but it also could benefit the radical Islamic State group, which Trump has vowed to destroy.

“Use of force has unintended consequences,” he said.

All in all, Bacon said, Congress needs an opportunity to do its job and debate the future direction of U.S. action against Assad’s regime.

“The Congress reflects the will of the people,” he said. “The president should have that support (in moving forward).”

Bacon said he is dismayed by all the acrimony over Trump’s start in office and the investigation into possible ties between Trump campaign officials and Russia.

He said that if Assad’s allies in the Russian government intended to disrupt U.S. politics generally by intervening in the 2016 election, they have succeeded in doing so.

“I think their real goal was to undermine our confidence in our electoral process,” he said.

U.S. citizens need to remember they are Americans first, not Republican or Democrat, pro-Trump or anti-Trump, Bacon said — and the country needs to look forward to confront its challenges rather than stay trapped in the cycle of “charge, countercharge, outrage, counter-outrage.”

“I think it’s bad,” he said of the current political back-and-forth. “It’s pulling us apart at the seams.”