White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declared today that it was in the interests of the United States to ensure that the large scale use of chemical weapons not go unanswered.
Carney said that it is“absolutely in the national security interests of the United States and the international community” that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government “must be responded to.”
“To allow it to happen without a response would be to invite further use of chemical weapons,” Carney said, and warned that the international standard on chemical weapons would then “dissolve.”
However, Carney also said that the United States is not considering regime change among its list of possible actions in Syria.
“[T]he options that we are considering are not about regime change,” Carney said. “They are about responding to a clear violation of an international standard that prohibits the use of chemical weapons.”