Obama: 'I Didn't Set a Red Line'

On Wednesday, President Obama, speaking Sweden, stated that even though he drew a “red line” on the use of Syrian chemical weapons in August 2012, he never drew a red line – it was the world’s “red line.” He stated: “I didn’t set a red line, the world set a red line.” How did the world do so? By creating a treaty against the use of chemical weapons, to which Syria is not a signatory. Obama added, “My credibility is not on the line, the international community’s credibility is on the line. America and Congress’s credibility is on the line.” In other words, it’s everybody’s fault but Obama’s that he originally set a red line and put his administration’s credibility on the line.  

The new line that Obama was not responsible for the red line was originally launched by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday in an attempt to shift responsibility from the president.

On August 20, 2012, Obama said: “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. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).