Republican Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) issued a blistering warning on Tuesday: President Obama’s hesitance to further engage in Syria will lead to the death of more civilians in addition to hurting U.S. credibility abroad.
“By drawing a ‘red line’ on chemical weapons, the President actually gave Assad a green light to use every other weapon in his arsenal with impunity,” they wrote in a joint statement. “Tens of thousands of Syrian civilians have been killed indiscriminately with artillery, helicopter gunships, fighter jets, and SCUD missiles. Now Assad has crossed the President’s red line. The credibility of the United States is on the line, not just with Syria, but with Iran, North Korea, and all of our enemies and friends who are watching closely to see whether the President backs up his words with action. Unfortunately, the red line has been blurred with each passing day.”
Rather than triggering further action, Obama said earlier Tuesday that evidence of likely chemical weapons use by the Assad regime should first be thoroughly investigated beyond initial intelligence assessments.
“We don’t have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened,” he said at a White House press conference. “And when I am making decisions about America’s national security and the potential for taking additional action, in response to chemical weapon use, I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the facts.”
