In deciding how to respond to the
Syrian regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons against innocent
civilians, President Barack Obama faces the toughest foreign
policy dilemma of his administration.
Failing to take action after calling the use of chemical
weapons a “red line” risks opening the U.S. to condemnation as
toothless and numb to a humanitarian disaster while encouraging
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and allies to continue
committing atrocities.
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…analysts such as Mona Yacoubian say some U.S.
military response — once considered a long shot– now seems
more probable.
Yacoubian, a senior adviser on the Middle East at the
Stimson Center, a Washington policy research institute, said in
an e-mail that the U.S. may have reached a “Srebrenica
moment,” referring to the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims, in
which international moral outrage over civilian deaths trumped
doubts about military intervention.
“If a chemical weapon attack is confirmed, and the Syrian
government is deemed responsible, the pressure for the United
States to respond, ideally as part of a broader alliance, will
be difficult to ignore,” Yacoubian said.
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