Free Republic

CNN senior political analyst David Gergen made a statement on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday that was rather hawkish for a former Clinton adviser. "If [President Obama] doesn't respect his own red line on Syria, there is no question that Israel and Iran will look at that and say, 'Well, we can't trust the guy. He’s not going to be tough.'"

Video at link

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons could be a greater threat after that nation’s president leaves power and could end up targeting Americans at home, lawmakers warned Sunday as they considered a U.S. response that stops short of sending military forces there.</p>

Rogers: Iran and North Korea Are Watching Obama’s Red Line on Syria By Patrick Brennan April 28, 2013 On ABC’s This Week, Representative Mike Rogers argued that the president’s presentation of a “red line” on Syria’s use of chemical weapons — which Rogers and other congressmen argue has been confirmed this week — has put him in a serious bind, because “more than just Syria, Iran is paying attention to this, North Korea is paying attention to this. The options aren’t huge, but some action needs to be taken.” “It can’t be a dotted line; it can’t be anything other...

After days of tough talk from the White House regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell emerged on April 26 to say no action will be taken against the country based on "intelligence assessments" until the administration can "corroborate the facts." He said, despite reports announcing intelligence assessments that show chemical weapons have been used--even the assessments released by the State Department on April 25--there is not enough evidence to act. A reporter ... asked Ventrell: "... why make it public?" Ventrell said it was, "an administrative decision to respond in a public fashion." He then...

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urged caution Wednesday over an Israeli claim that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons, saying all evidence must be weighed carefully as such allegations are "serious business". Hagel indicated he had been caught off guard by claims from an Israeli general this week that Syria had fired chemical agents against rebels in recent months, the AFP news agency reported. "When I was in Israel they did not give me that assessment. I guess it wasn't complete," Hagel told reporters in Cairo on a tour of the Middle East that included a three-day visit to Israel....

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the Syrian regime has likely used chemical weapons on a "small scale."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday the U.S. intelligence community believes the Syrian regime used the chemical weapon sarin, a revelation that immediately raised the question of whether a "red line" had been crossed in the country's civil war. Hagel confirmed the intelligence assessment, which was detailed in a letter to select members of Congress, while speaking to reporters on a visit to Abu Dhabi. The administration swiftly released those letters, which said U.S. intelligence determined with varying degrees of confidence that "the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin."...

<p>WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. intelligence community assesses with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on a small scale, the White House said on Thursday, adding however that such assessments were not enough and that "credible and corroborated" facts were needed.</p>

The White House on Thursday again evaded direct questions about whether chemical weapons have been deployed in Syria. White House press secretary Jay Carney would not deny definitively that chemical weapons were used in the city of Homs, despite claims made in a recent classified State Department cable that such weapons had been used. Carney referred to the information in the cable as “anecdotal” and said that the State Department could not independently corroborate the information in the cable, which originated from a third-party source on the ground in Syria.

The Syrian crisis unbelievably took another turn for the worse Saturday, Dec. 29: After making no headway with Bashar Assad in Damascus, the UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was told in no uncertain terms by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow: “There is no possibility of persuading Syrian ruler Bashar Assad to leave Syria.” As they spoke, a record 400 people died in hostilities in the country. The burnt remains of hundreds of people slaughtered by the army were discovered in a Homs district. And Syrian opposition leaders have repeatedly preconditioned their acceptance of the Russian invitation to talks...

The chemical warfare threat looming over Syria’s civil war and its neighbors has taken an epic turn with the announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday, Dec. 22, that “the Syrian government has “consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel onslaught and they are under control for the time being.” He added that Russia, “which has military advisers training Syria’s military, has kept close watch over its chemical arsenal.” Debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report: The Russian foreign minister’s statement was a message to Washington that the transfer of Syria’s weapons of mass destruction...

Global concerns over Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles grew after U.S. officials this week privately said the regime had begun mixing chemicals that could be used for the lethal nerve agent sarin. On Saturday, Syrian told the United Nations that it would never use chemical weapons against its peoples and warned that opposition fighters are the ones who could use chemical weapons. But videos uploaded on the web by activists proved otherwise. The video showed the destruction caused by what they identified as chemical weapons. They said the fire was caused by a tank dropped from a Syrian warplane and was...

According to a video reportedly posted by the Free Syrian Army, the Syrian rebels have their own chemical weapons to match Bashar Al-Assad’s – and you get to watch two rabbits die to prove it.This link is to the video posted at YouTube.  But Breitbart has helpfully loaded the video to its post on the topic today, so you don’t have to sign in at YouTube to watch it.  Warning: graphic content.After apparently setting off the chemical agent in a glass box containing the hapless rabbits, the speaker in the video issues this warning (translation cited at Breitbart): You saw...

For the past week, US officials have kept up a flow of leaks to the media suggesting that Syrian President Bashar Assad was on the verge of ordering his army to unleash chemical weapons. The details built up as the week went by, starting with the detection of “unusual movements” of Syrian chemical weapons units, advancing to reports that the Syrians were “mixing precursor chemicals” for the nerve gas sarin and on Thursday, Dec. 6, that bombs had been made ready with sarin gas for loading onto Syrian Air Force fighter-bombers when Assad gave the word. Saturday, Dec. 8, British...

<p>AFP - Syria warned on Saturday that rebels could use chemical weapons in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad's forces, and insisted that the regime will never unleash such arms on its own people.</p> <p>British Foreign Secretary William Hague, however, said there was evidence the Damascus government could actually employ chemical weapons stocks in the conflict which a rights group says has killed at least 42,000 people in nearly 21 months.</p>

Now that Barack Obama is firmly enconsed in office, re-elected for a second term, it appears that the hounds of hell are desperately barking for some action on Syria. Frustrated by the successful efforts of the Syrian government to turn back the western backed and armed terrorists, their stooges and proxies, they have gone back to old tactics again. You would think after having been caught out the last time they started agitating about chemical weapons before a false flag attack, they they would give up the ruse. However, here they go again, trying to put the international community in...

Israel's ambassador to the United States warned Sunday that any evidence of chemical weapons being passed from the Assad regime to extremist groups like Hezbollah would be a "game-changer," and said that would be a "red line" for Israel. The remark comes amid claims that the Syrian regime is mixing and moving the components for the deadly sarin nerve gas. Ambassador Michael Oren said he could not confirm those reports but made clear that Israel is watching the situation "very carefully." "Were those weapons to pass into the wrong hands -- Hezbollah's hands for example -- that would be a...

War On Terror: As the regime of Bashar Assad disintegrates, the security of his chemical arsenal is in jeopardy. The No. 2 general in Saddam Hussein's air force says they were the WMDs we didn't find in Iraq. King Abdullah of neighboring Jordan warned that a disintegrating Syria on the verge of civil war puts Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons at risk of falling into the hands of al-Qaida. "One of the worst-case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall into unfriendly hands," he...

War On Terror: As the regime of Bashar Assad disintegrates, the security of his chemical arsenal is in jeopardy. The No. 2 general in Saddam Hussein's air force says they were the WMDs we didn't find in Iraq. King Abdullah of neighboring Jordan warned that a disintegrating Syria on the verge of civil war puts Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons at risk of falling into the hands of al-Qaida. "One of the worst-case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall into unfriendly hands," he...