President Obama warned in August 2012 that Syria must not cross his “red line” against using chemical weapons against the rebels — or else. President Bashar Assad has continued to cross Mr. Obama’s red line, and we’re still waiting to see the “else.”
What is plain to see is a heavy rain of chemical weapons on rebel fighters in Syria, in 29 incidents this spring alone. The Washington Times reported Wednesday that the deal Mr. Obama made last year with the government in Damascus “left chlorine on the table as a weapon.” Barrel bombs filled with weaponized chlorine do deadly work.
To add insult to incompetent negotiating, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry continue to embrace the lie that the United States has succeeded in getting “all the chemical weapons out of Syria.”
Mr. Obama clearly understands the consequences of doing nothing. In 2012, he said that “the point … made about chemical and biological weapons is critical. That’s an issue that doesn’t just concern Syria. It concerns our close allies in the region, including Israel. It concerns us. We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people.
“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is [when] we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”
Or he can just change his story. Our reporter Guy Taylor reports that “House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce plans on Wednesday to highlight how claims by the administration and the United Nations to have successfully rid Syria of chemical weapons have fallen far short — leaving the regime with a deadly arsenal of barrel bombs filled with weaponized chlorine.”
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/17/editorial-obama-must-deal-with-syrias-chemical-wea/#ixzz3dRvuHPA6
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