Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) said without equivocation that a "red line" has been crossed in Syria amid reports that Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons against Syrian rebels Thursday on FNC.
Intelligence agencies from Israel, Britain, and France have corroborated the United States' assessment that chemical weapons have been used, Sen. McCain said.
However, Sen. McCain also expressed his concern that the Obama Administration may try to use certain technicalities and "caveats" concerning how the chemical weapons have been used as an "excuse" not to intervene:
JENNA LEE: Senator McCain, I just read a small portion of the letter about the caveats. You know, a varying degree of confidence. But there's specifics about the chemical agent serin. Then the caveat the intelligence assessment alone is not sufficient. So what are we to make of this headline? Has a red line been crossed or not?
JOHN MCCAIN: Well, in my view, it was crossed. Not only have our intelligence people concluded that, but as importantly the Israeli, the British and the French have as well. And obviously, we know that Bashar al-Assad will do whatever is necessary in order to stay in power; massacres of his own people, all of the actions that he's taken that are so horrific. So I worry that the president and the administration will use these caveats as an excuse not to act right away or act at all, because the president clearly stated that it was a red line and that it couldn't be crossed without the United States taking vigorous action. That action should be a safe zone for the Syrian opposition to operate in Syria, weapons to the right people in Syria and neutralizing the air capability of Bashar al-Assad.