The BlogObama Aide On Syria's Assad: 'If He Drops Sarin On His Own People, What’s That Got Do Do With Us?'10:12 AM, May 5, 2013
• By DANIEL HALPER
President Barack Obama got ahead of himself and his advisers when he said that Syria using chemical weapons would cross a "red line," the New York Times reports. “How can we attack another country unless it’s in self-defense and with no Security Council resolution?” an unnamed Obama administration official tells the paper. “If he drops sarin on his own people, what’s that got to do with us?”
But if the tough rhetoric "succeeded" for a time, it appears to have backfired in the long-run. Because Syria has now apparently used chemical weapons, and President Obama is not willing to do anything about it. In fact, Obama is now downplaying any sort of response, even before settling on a specific response to Syrai crossing the red line. “As a general rule, I don’t rule things out as commander in chief because circumstances change and you want to make sure that I always have the full power of the United States at our disposal to meet American national security interests,” Obama commented on Syria, while speaking at news conference in Costa Rica. Then, Obama went on to contradict himself. “Having said that, I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria, American boots on the ground in Syria, would not only be good for America, but also would be good for Syria,” the president said. Recent Blog PostsThe Weekly Standard ArchivesBrowse 18 Years of the Weekly Standard
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