Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States, under pressure to respond to a
massive chemical weapons attack, has decided to flex its muscles toward
Syria.

Officials said President Barack Obama has requested military options
against Syria in wake of CW attacks by the regime of President Bashar Assad.
The officials said the president has ordered a naval task force to sail to the
eastern Mediterranean to prepare for any U.S. contingency.

“The Defense Department has a responsibility to provide the president with options for all contingencies,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
“And that requires positioning our forces, positioning our assets to be able to carry out different options — whatever the president might choose.”

Officials said U.S. European Command has been directed to increase its naval presence in the Mediterranean. So far, the Navy’s Sixth Fleet has
maintained three destroyers in the sea.

“The president has asked the Defense Department for options,” Hagel said on Aug. 23.

Obama has refused to confirm Syrian opposition claims that up to 1,300 people were killed in CW artillery strikes by Assad forces around Damascus
on Aug. 20. France and Israel have confirmed the opposition claims.

“Sometimes what we’ve seen is folks will call for immediate action,
jumping into stuff that does not turn out well, gets us mired in very
difficult situations,” Obama said in a U.S. television interview. “I’m
reminded that there are costs and we have to take those into account as we
try to work within an international framework to do everything we can to see
Assad ousted.”

The White House has been examining options for a U.S. response to Syria.
On Aug. 22 and Aug. 24, Obama met his senior aides amid plans for an
imminent military summit in Jordan that would focus on neighboring Syria.

The U.S. media have reported that Obama was considering air strikes on
Assad regime facilities. ABC News said the targets — targeted by standoff
weapons rather than fighter-jets — could include Syria’s missile arsenal
and command and control facilities.

Obama has been under pressure by Congress to destroy Assad’s CW
infrastructure. Officials said Syria, assisted by North Korea, contains the
largest CW arsenal in the Middle East.

“I think we ought to look at ways of degrading Assad’s chemical weapons
use in the future,” Rep. Adam Schiff told the Foreign Policy website. “Some
of the mechanisms Assad is using to deliver chemical weapons we could
potentially take kinetic action against.”

  Chuck Hagel, Damascus, Obama requests military ‘options’ on Syria, Rep. Adam Schiff, won’t confirm chemical weapons were used by Assad regime