News reports suggest Bashar al-Assad marked the first anniversary of President Obama’s “red line” on chemical weapons in traditional fashion: by launching a new chemical attack on civilians.
The White House says the president is “deeply concerned” and insists those responsible “must be held accountable.” Surely Assad is quaking in his boots.
Opposition groups released photos and videos of what they said was an attack using an unspecified chemical agent.
Estimates of the dead, many of them young children, ranged from 215 to more than 1,300. The UN Security Council called an urgent meeting. But it’s doubtful we’ll see anything come of this, apart from a fresh round of “strongly worded statements” or new demands for yet another investigation.
Certainly there’s been nothing to suggest that the attack, even if verified, will lead to the military action Obama threatened one year ago, when he warned that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line . . . that would change my equation.”
Yes, yes, we know: There are no good options today in Syria. Few have clean hands.
Then again, that’s the point. When a president marks a line in the sand, his influence and options only go down if he then sits back and waits for a foe to cross it.
One year after he drew it, Obama’s red line has become Assad’s green light.
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