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Albright Hits Obama on Not Following Through on 'Red Line' Threat

April 10, 2018

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Monday that she wished former President Barack Obama had taken action after setting his "red line" in Syria.

Colbert asked Albright what President Donald Trump should do and about him blaming Obama for letting things get out of hand in Syria during his tenure, Mediaite reports. Trump is weighing how to respond after Bashar al-Assad's regime reportedly unleashed another chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb on Saturday.

"Barack Obama did put down a red line and I personally wished that we had followed through on that. However, what had happened was that Barack Obama was looking for support from Congress because he didn’t want to do something outside the law and then Congress would not support that," she said on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."

Obama warned in 2012 if his "red line" prohibiting the use of chemical weapons was violated, action would be taken, but Assad's 2013 use of chemical weapons wasn't ultimately met with military action by the United States.

Albright also condemned a lack of a plan of action by the Trump administration for Syria and called the air strike ordered by Trump last year after an Assad chemical weapons attack a "one-off."

Albright also agreed with Sen. John McCain's (R., Ariz.) statement that Trump's prior plan to remove American troops from Syria who are fighting the Islamic State emboldened Assad and his main supporter, Russian President Vladimir Putin.