Former Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday that the latest chemical attack in Syria shows that President Obama made a major error when he threatened to act against Syria if it used chemicals against its own people, and then did nothing when it happened.
“I think one of the big mistakes President Obama made was drawing that red line, saying if [Syrian President Bashar] Assad uses gas he will respond. He used gas, and we didn’t do anything,” Lieberman said on Fox News.
“And that just invited a lot of the troubles that have happened since then,” he added.
Obama said in 2012 that the use of chemical weapons would be a “red line” that would invite U.S. retaliation, but when those weapons were used in 2013, Obama did nothing.
Lieberman said that event helped set the tone for Assad, who believed he could do anything to his people.
“The world pulled back, including the U.S. under President Obama, let this country go wild,” said Lieberman, the former Democrat from Connecticut who later became an independent. “Assad could do whatever he wanted, Iran was already in there, increased its presence. They have tens of thousands there, and then Russia saw an opening and moved in.”
“Assad now thinks he can do whatever he wants to its people, including breaking that line of civil behavior and using gas,” Lieberman said.
He said he appreciated President Trump’s tough talk on Syria after the latest chemical attack. But he said that needs to be followed up with action, and said he supported a recommendation from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“We should hit their military, maybe we should do what we said we talked about a long time ago, which is to ground their air force,” he said.
