The thin red line

By Charles P. Blair and Mila Johns | 27 March 2013

Article Highlights

• An attack on the village of Khan al-Assal is the latest in a number of incidents during which the use of chemical weapons has been claimed by either, or both, sides of the Syrian civil war.
• In reporting chemical attacks, citizen journalists have apparently conflated lethal and non-lethal chemical agents, creating the perception that the United States has failed to act, even though President Obama's "red line" warning against chemical weapons use has been crossed.
• US policy toward Syria may unintentionally have helped erode the international taboo against chemical weapons use; to buttress that taboo, the United States now must make clear what would and would not constitute crossing the chemical warfare red line, in Syria and elsewhere.

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/the-thin-red-line