President Trump said Wednesday that Syria’s chemical attacks against its own civilians has changed his attitude toward the long civil war there, but declined to say how U.S. policy might change in response.
“It crossed a lot of lines for me,” Trump said during a White House press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II, in response to the Syrian attack that killed more than 70 people this week.
Trump on whether Syrian gas attack crosses a red line: "Many, many lines, beyond a red line" pic.twitter.com/dKhlEFOZwq— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 5, 2017
“When you kill innocent children, innocent babies with a chemical gas that was so lethal – that crossed many, many lines beyond the red line,” Trump said.
The president said the attack had a “big impact” on him, one that is likely to guide U.S. policy toward Syria going forward. But he stressed that it made no sense to telegraph what he might do about it, and repeated his complaint that the Obama administration failed to solve the crisis in Syria “a long time ago.”
“I think the Obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis a long time ago,” Trump said, criticizing his predecessor for failing to follow through after threatening military action against Assad in the wake of chemical attack on a suburb of Damascus in 2013.
“That set us back a long ways and not only in Syria, but in many other parts of the world because it was a blank threat,” he charged. “I think it was something that was not one of our better days as a country.”
Trump on laying blame on Obama for Syria: "The Obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis a long time ago." pic.twitter.com/USeNRLsO89— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 5, 2017
Trump said his attitude toward Syrian leader Bashar Assad “has changed very much” following the massive gas attack, which U.S. officials believe involved sarin.
The president added that he now has a “responsibility” to address the escalating situation in Syria, though he deflected when pressed for details on how his administration might act. He instead turned his attention to North Korea and an upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“As you know, I will be meeting with the president of China very soon in Florida and that’s another responsibility we have,” Trump said. “It’s called North Korea, and that’s a big problem. We have somebody that is not doing the right thing and thats going to be my responsibility.”
