Syria Strike's Dangerous Calculus = Assad Loses and Al Qaeda Wins
American credibility is at stake in Syria, but not necessarily in the way that President Obama thinks.
By now, we’ve all heard the arguments for intervention:
- Chemical weapons are banned by international treaty (interestingly enough, a treaty that Syria did not sign),
- If we fail to act, the brutal Assad regime will use chemical weapons again
- Degrading and defeating Assad will be a serious blow to Iran and Hezbollah.
Moreover, the president himself declared in 2012 that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” – even though he recently tried to re-write history by claiming the “red line” was drawn by the world community, not him. . . .