Today, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry, and the White House all stated that their position is now that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in recent months — a development which the president said last year would constitute a “red line” that would “change [the] equation” regarding the possiblity of U.S. intervention. Essentially, they’ve all explained that the U.S. intelligence community has now concluded with some confidence that the Assad regime has used “chemical weapons on a small scale,” specifically, sarin gas, explaining that this is based in part on “physiological evidence” rather than merely reports. Kerry specifically stated to reporters today that there have been two instances in which chemical weapons have been used.

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