Is Obama dawdling on Syria?

Republican senators are demanding action as evidence mounts that the regime crossed Obama's "red line" by using chemical weapons

On Syria's chemical weapons, President Obama says "we don't know when they were used, how they were used, or who used them."
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Obama said Tuesday in a White House news conference that he needs more time to confirm evidence that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons. Obama has said that the deployment of Syria's stockpile of poison gases would violate a "red line" and trigger deeper foreign involvement in the fight to topple Assad. Republicans say Obama has the proof he needs to take action against the regime. Obama, however, says "we don't know when they were used, how they were used, or who used them." Is he just being prudent, or giving Assad a free pass?

Republican leaders, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), certainly think the time has come for the U.S. to do more, by directly arming the rebels, say, or helping establish a no-fly zone. Caution is always justified before taking drastic measures overseas, says Salman Shaikh at Foreign Policy, but the path forward became more clear last week when the Assad regime's use of deadly gases was blown open. In a letter to lawmakers, the White House said intelligence agencies believe with "varying degrees of confidence" that Syria had made limited use of the sarin nerve agent. The United Nations, Britain, France, and Israel say the same thing, Shaikh goes on. Assad is testing Obama's "red line." This should be a game changer. Obama needs to back up his words with action by going to the U.N. and mustering an international coalition to put a stop to Assad's horrific slaughter of his own people, says Shaikh.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.