Full White House Statement On Syria's "Red Line" Crossing

What comes after George Bush and George Bush Jr.? Must be George Bush the Third, only this time armed with a Nobel peace prize. Seriously, are they that stupid to think they can rerun the entire Iraq invasion scenariowithout changing anything? And is the US public really that dumb to let it slide? And how many Syrian citizens and US soldiers have to die in what is the most glaring instance in the past decade of a wag the dog-typedistraction from on onslaught of domestic administration scandals?

Complete Text of White House Statement on Chemical Weapons in Syria

Following is the statement issued by the White House in the name of Benjamin J. Rhodes, deputy national security adviser.

At the President’s direction, the United States Government has been closely monitoring the potential use of chemical weapons within Syria. Following the assessment made by our intelligence community in April, the President directed the intelligence community to seek credible and corroborated information to build on that assessment and establish the facts with some degree of certainty. Today, we are providing an updated version of our assessment to Congress and to the public.

The Syrian government’s refusal to grant access to the United Nations to investigate any and all credible allegations of chemical weapons use has prevented a comprehensive investigation as called for by the international community. The Assad regime could prove that its request for an investigation was not just a diversionary tactic by granting the UN fact finding mission immediate and unfettered access to conduct on-site investigations to help reveal the truth about chemical weapons use in Syria.

While pushing for a UN investigation, the United States has also been working urgently with our partners and allies as well as individuals inside Syria, including the Syrian opposition, to procure, share, and evaluate information associated with reports of chemical weapons use so that we can establish the facts and determine what took place.

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