White House spokesman Jay Carney dodged several questions today on whether chemical weapons use in Syria crosses the ‘red line’ set by President Obama. Instead he insisted the U.S. is investigating all reports and refused to speculate on any actions the U.S. might carry out if Assad is responsible for the chemical weapons usage.
ED HENRY: Jay, I wanted to follow-up on Syria. Understanding as you say that the evidence has to be airtight cause nobody should suggest that the administration rushed through this. If it takes months, and months to verify this or maybe a year, doesn’t that keep the door wide open for Assad to use chemical weapons? When the president was in the briefing room here some months ago he made it seem like there will be action taken if this line is crossed, if it drags on for months and months it seems like the door could be open for Assad to do this again.
JAY CARNEY: I certainly appreciate the question and I understand it, but what I won’t do is speculate about how much time might be required to gather the evidence necessary to be able to assess clearly in a way that can be corroborated, and reviewed whether this red line has been crossed. I think all Americans would hope and expect, on a matter of this seriousness we would be very careful in that process. And would insist on gathering all of the facts, and not rushing to take action in a policy sense I reaction to assessments that are very important but are based on incomplete information. So, we need to build upon the excellent work that has been done so far. We call upon Assad to allow the inspection team from the United Nations to conduct the investigation that Assad himself asked for. But we are not relying on the United Nations alone, we are working with our partners, and allies, as well as the Syrian opposition to gather more facts and evidence because this matter is so serious.