After the shocking events that have taken place in Syria over the past two weeks, it’s no surprise that it’s the main focus of this week’s TIME magazine, which those of you with a subscription will have just received.
The magazine looks at Obama’s conflict at whether or not to get involved in Syria’s civil war - though we learned this weekend, he will be taking military action.
Obama has been keeping an eye on Assad and two years ago, commented that if he used chemical weapons there would be big consequences for his actions. Now, general opinion is that Assad has taken it one step too far by killing over 1,000 people.
In his statement, Obama said: “Our intelligence shows the Assad regime and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets in the highly populated suburbs of Damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place.”
He said that the attacks were “n assault on human dignity” and they “present a serious danger to our national security” and he believes it is time for him America to step in.
“Now, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground.
“Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope. But I'm confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons, deter this kind of behaviour, and degrade their capacity to carry it out,” he said.
Read TIME’s lowdown on the situation in this week’s issue.
Subscribe and save on a TIME magazine subscription today.
Posted by Amy Power.
