Obama Faces Toughest Foreign Policy Challenge in Syria
By David Lerman and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan - Aug 25, 2013
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.
Ordering cruise-missile strikes or other military action may embroil the U.S. in another Mideast war with little public support. Military action also may inadvertently aid the Islamic extremists allied with al-Qaeda who are battling Assad, trigger retaliatory terrorist attacks by Assad’s Hezbollah and Iranian allies and create a backlash elsewhere in an unsettled Muslim world.
“Barack Obama’s administration is in a grave predicament, much of its own making,” Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said in a blog posting on the council’s website.
“A president of the U.S. cannot say something crosses a red line and then go on conducting business as usual,” Haass said. “Doing so dilutes the impact of both threats to foes and assurances to friends.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-26/obama-faces-toughest-foreign-policy-challenge-in-syria.html
