Editorial Board
Now Obama Needs to Make His Case on Syria
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With the presentation of an unclassified briefing on Syria’s use of chemical weapons, the administration of President Barack Obama has put its cards on the table. As Secretary of State John Kerry said: “The primary question is really no longer, what do we know? The question is, what are we -- we collectively -- what are we in the world going to do about it?”
The administration’s intelligence assessment carries the unwanted burden of the George W. Bush administration’s meretricious effort to justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq -- and for many, that will be enough to disqualify it. Yet taken at face value, it is a compelling and disturbing document.