The Thick Red Line

On August 20^th 2012, the President of the United States stood up and gave the following stern warning to the Syrian regime: "A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus."

Now let’s fast-forward eight months and six days to today. The Obama administration now says that there is proof that Syria has used the chemical weapon sarin on its own people. British and American officials have confirmed that there were at least two incidents of civilians being gassed.  Although the SECDEF minimized the use of the weapons by the use of the following statement: "The Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin." The use of the words “on a small scale” is carefully crafted to not only minimize the deaths of many, but it allows the Administration to drag their feet on any type of military response. The official response so far, is that there are varying degrees of confidence on whether or not there were weapons used and if they were, who used those weapons.  Therefore the “red line” has not been crossed.

The administration is using the miscalculation of GWB and the WMDs to invade Iraq as an excuse not to take some sort of action against Syria. On Thursday the US said that we would not take our allies reports and that we must do our own. Then less than a day later, Hagel states that we have evidence of the weapons being used, as well as Israel, France, and Great Britain have all concluded the same via there own investigations. So, how is it that four allies have all conducted their own investigations and have come to the same conclusion but we are still not sure whether or not these weapons have been used? So I ask, what does it take to cross the “red line?”

The President of the United States made a promise to the people of Syria that if the Syrian government were to attack the rebels or civilians with chemical weapons, then the United States must take some sort of action. Now that is has been confirmed that the same weapons have been used, the US is now backtracking on promises made.

Keep in mind, I do not advocate for an invasion of Syria, but there are other options that could be used to ensure that more chemical weapons are not used. Put up a no fly zone over the areas where the weapons could be launched. Place an aircraft carrier group or two in the area and ensure Syria knows that there are several thousand US Marines ready at a moments notice to stop any further use of chemical weapons. Or even make a public statement about the use of Chemical Weapons (as of this writing Obama has made no such statement instead he is speaking at a Planned Parenthood event. I guess abortion rights are more important than people being gassed in their own homes).

No action by Obama is just more proof that Obama has yet again weakened the world’s view of the United States.  

For Further reading:

http://news.yahoo.com/chemical-weapons-syria-obamas-high-bar-proof-could-232636199.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315102/Syrian-government-using-chemical-weapons-people-crosses-red-line-Britain-David-Cameron-warns.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57581556/white-house-obamas-red-line-not-crossed-on-syria-chemical-weapons/