Introduction: Red Lines for War

Hendrickson, Ryan C.

doi:10.5810/kentucky/9780813160948.003.0001

Chapter

Introduction: Red Lines for War

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https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813160948.003.0001

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1–6

Published:

May 2015

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President Barack Obama faced a major foreign-policy challenge and humanitarian crisis in 2012 as civil war raged in Syria. As Syrian president Bashar al-Assad continued his slaughter of governmental insurgents, Obama attempted to show the world that his military strength and diplomatic resolve vis-à-vis Syria was genuine. As many commanders in chief have done since the Second World War, on August 20, 2012, Obama created his own “red line” for Assad’s behavior that would potentially result in U.S. military intervention. His message to the Syrian leader was clear: “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”¹

In a similar vein, on April 11, 2010, with increased concerns over Iran’s and North Korea’s unwillingness to cooperate with the United States and the United Nations (UN) on a host of nuclear-proliferation issues, Obama’s then secretary of defense Robert Gates discussed the threat that each state posed to the United States. His foreign-policy message was not difficult to decipher: “Because North Korea and Iran are not in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty … for them, all bets are off. All options are on the table.”² On Iran and its ongoing nuclear weapons program, in 2013 Obama reiterated his administration’s policy: “If we can resolve it diplomatically, that’s a more lasting solution. If not, I continue to keep all options on the table. … When I say all options are on the table, all options are on the table. The United States has significant capabilities.”³

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Introduction: Red Lines for War

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