French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has issued a statement announcing that France has now confirmed that sarin gas was used in Syria. The French do not suspect or assume that this deadly nerve poison was dispersed by troops in the civil war in Syria; tests done on samples obtained from the site of the chemical attacks prove that the sarin was used.
This is major news. For the last month, the world has known that the Assad regime was using chemical weapons against the rebels, but many governments pretended that they were not sure. The chief player in this life and death game of "let's pretend" was, of course, president Obama of the United States. Obama, you should recall, repeatedly announced that use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a "red line" as far as America was concerned. When the Assad forces actually used sarin gas, Obama retreated quickly by claiming that no one was certain that the poison had actually been used. We were told over and over that more study and more facts were needed. But now, we have that certainty. The wait is over. We know for sure that chemical weapons were used.
Will Obama bother even to acknowledge this new certainty? It will be interesting to see. If things move forward in the usual manner, you can expect that three months from now Obama will express surprise that the presence of sarin was confirmed. I can hear him now: "No one told me. I learned about it from watching television news."
Sadly, nothing will be coming from Obama. That much seems clear. The entire Middle East will understand that Obama cannot be trusted. Guarantees from America will lose their value. The numbers of dead in Syria and elsewhere will rise. And Obama will play golf and shoot hoops in between campaign stops.
This is major news. For the last month, the world has known that the Assad regime was using chemical weapons against the rebels, but many governments pretended that they were not sure. The chief player in this life and death game of "let's pretend" was, of course, president Obama of the United States. Obama, you should recall, repeatedly announced that use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a "red line" as far as America was concerned. When the Assad forces actually used sarin gas, Obama retreated quickly by claiming that no one was certain that the poison had actually been used. We were told over and over that more study and more facts were needed. But now, we have that certainty. The wait is over. We know for sure that chemical weapons were used.
Will Obama bother even to acknowledge this new certainty? It will be interesting to see. If things move forward in the usual manner, you can expect that three months from now Obama will express surprise that the presence of sarin was confirmed. I can hear him now: "No one told me. I learned about it from watching television news."
Sadly, nothing will be coming from Obama. That much seems clear. The entire Middle East will understand that Obama cannot be trusted. Guarantees from America will lose their value. The numbers of dead in Syria and elsewhere will rise. And Obama will play golf and shoot hoops in between campaign stops.
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