NYT: Obama’s ‘Red Line’ Comment ‘Unscripted’
Source: TPM/NYT
PEMA LEVY 10:53 AM EDT, SUNDAY MAY 5, 2013
When President Obama promised that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a "red line" that would "change my calculations," he was going further than many of his advisers wanted or even expected by pledging the further involvement in the conflict should chemical weapons be used, the New York Times reported Sunday.
“The idea was to put a chill into the Assad regime without actually trapping the president into any predetermined action,” said one senior official, who, like others, discussed the internal debate on the condition of anonymity. But “what the president said in August was unscripted,” another official said. Mr. Obama was thinking of a chemical attack that would cause mass fatalities, not relatively small-scale episodes like those now being investigated, except the “nuance got completely dropped.”
Months later, after reports that chemical weapons have been used on a small scale, the administration appears to be moving toward providing lethal weapons to the Syrian rebels.
###
Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nyt-obamas-red-line-comment-unscripted
= new reply since forum marked as read
