This is the big headline today: “I did not set a red line.”
(added) Transcript via Real Clear Politics:
STEVE HOLLAND, REUTERS: Have you made up your mind whether to take action against Syria whether or not you have a congressional resolution approved? Is a strike needed in order to preserve your credibility for when you set these sort of red lines? And were you able to enlist the support of the prime minister here for support in Syria?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Let me unpack the question. First of all, I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation titled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous thing that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for. And so, when I said, in a press conference, that my calculus about what’s happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn’t something I just kind of made up. I didn’t pluck it out of thin air. There was a reason for it. That’s point number one. Point number two, my credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line. And America and Congress’ credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important.
People are contrasting it with this August 2012 statement:
This is too important for gamesmanship:
There is an international red line, but Obama also set a red line.
The full press conference is here.
Update:
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/375266874541764608
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Watching Obama’s Syria mess begs the question: How did this guy ever find the balls to send troops in after Bin Laden?
He didn’t. His staff the process started while he was playing golf and Jarret must have been taking a nap.
Someone told him that Bin Laden was hiding out and working as a rodeo clown.
Obama’s approval rating was way down and his brain trust decided to capitalize on Bin Laden intel to stem the tide.
Utter Bullshit Barry! Still has NO CLUE, why the globe laughs.
In the best of hands, we are.
So what will happen?
Will the world’s press FINALLY call him a liar (now on international display)?
Will international leaders call him out for this blatant lie, this “blame the world – it’s THEIR fault!” evasive maneuver?
I’m not holding my breath. But, here’s to hoping they do!
“I didn’t say that.”
But you did.
“What I really meant was…….”
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Good ’nuff for me.
NOT!!!
What does “It’s a red line” mean? Whether he misspoke, spoke stupidly in his haste to be tough guy, or whatever, we have no business intervening in Syria unless it immediately affects us or directly threatens an ally.
(We have yet to establish that Assad vs rebels used chemical weapons.)
Well, it all depends on what the word “is” is.
Isn’t that Right, Mr. Clinton?
Is amateur hour almost over?
C’mon Chuck, hit the gong already!
Mew
It is appalling to think of the US military trying to execute the Keystone Kops plan they will come up with.
“Just Say No” to the war resolution.
Loesch has Obama being the big man, his red line, his equation, his calculus.
“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized,” the president said. “That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”
http://danaloeschradio.com/obama-claims-he-didnt-set-a-red-line/
For a man that single handedly killed bin Laden and sent al Qaeda on the run, he sure seems bashful about taking responsibility for his own words, and commitment of “his military”.
LeadingRetreating from behind.Future Orwellian lies:
I never said your insurance rates would go down.
I never said I’d cut the deficit in half.
I never said you could keep your doctor and plan.
I never said Bush lied about WMD’s.
Yes, Loesch will say it. But not a single Republican in Congress will say it, i.e., will jam Obama’s words down his throat. This is the persistent and insoluble problem of our time — a GOP even weaker than Obama is mendacious.
Rand Paul was bizarrely tender with John Kerry yesterday. Deeply disappointing but really not unexpected. The Republicans just donlt get it. They’re playing out an Alan Drury novel of noble and hifalutin comity against the backdrop of a Barbarian ransacking of our Constitution. Incredible.
Here is a good takedown of the enabling GOP — the REAL problem in this drama — in Ricochet.
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Dear-Congress-Welcome-To-Pottery-Barn#comments
When you think about it, “retreating from behind” *is* leading, kinda.
I wouldn’t trust this guy with a pair of scissors, let alone the full arsenal of the US military.
Don’t worry.
By the time he’s done, the full arsenal of the US military will consist of a clown with a popgun.
But not a rodeo clown, God forbid.
This guy makes James Buchanan look like George Washington.
Press release from April:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/25/background-conference-call-white-house-official-syria
“But I think nobody should have any mistake about what our red line is. It is when we firmly establish that there has been chemical weapons use within Syria, that is not acceptable to the United States, nor is the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist organizations. And the people in Syria and the Assad regime should know that the President means what he says when he set that red line. And keep in mind, he is the one who laid down that marker. He’s the one who directed that we provide this information to the public.”
So I guess that White House official (transcript doesn’t say who it is) is a liar.
Nice catch, Angela. I’d forgotten that.
In no language of the 1997 Chemical Weapons treaty signed by the US have I so far found that in case of use (or actually even possession) of chemical weapons is any remedy allowed for a single nation to take it upon itself to deliver a “shot across the bow” of the offender.
I’ve only found “sanctions” (designed by a multinational organization — I presume the OPCW or Oranization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons)) as redresss per Article XII:
“3. In cases where serious damage to the object and purpose of this Convention may result from activities prohibited under this Convention, in particular by Article I, the Conference may recommend collective measures to States Parties in conformity with international law.
4. The Conference shall, in cases of particular gravity, bring the issue, including relevant information and conclusions, to the attention of the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council.”
(Syria didn’t sign the treaty.)
So Obama as usual is blowing it out his tush. But with ever-increasing bad consequence.
http://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/
ROFL This is simply hilarious. All of President Obama’s statements come with an expiration date.
Call your Congressman. Call you Senator. Tell them they would be idiots to back this President in Syria. The American people do not support it. If we help the rebels get rid of Assad, we help elements of Al Qaeda get WMD. And we turn Syria into another Libya — or worse.
And if they tell you, “Oh, we have to do this to support the President,” tell them: “Really? Because he said that he never set a red line.”
Catch this act:
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/09/04/obama-claims-hed-be-treated-better-in-europe-whines-about-names-im-called-in-america/
Aww poor widdle barwy. Don’t let THE DOOR hit you in the ass! Tough to do, ’cause you are ALL ASS..
Obama: I didn’t set a red line, everyone else did
Obama: My credibility isn’t on the line, everyone else’s is
If you like your insurance plan, you can keep it.
You can keep your doctor.
The cost of your health insurance will go down.
I did not set a red line.
Nothing is too serious for gamesmanship. Gamesmanship is all there is.
Right Barry and Bill Clinton didn’t have sexual relations with Monica Lewinski…