Statement by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, At a St

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44. That was also a red-line, remember?

In the same speech in Aug 22 2012, Obama said we would attack if we found out that Syria was proliferating chemical weapons to terrorist groups, most pointedly, Hezbollah. Out of the oven and into the frying pan.

Everyone would say, we need to shut down Bashar. If true, how stupid can you get?

As it is, I think it's pretty well accepted that the Defense Minister lost control over his own forces that night. That's compounded many times over if there's truth to the German claim that Hezbollah was on the phone with the Iranian Ambassador in Beirut saying that Assad was stupid enough to give the order. That tells me Hezbollah was on the line that night, and maybe Hezbollah fired first or someone gave a false authentication order. I don't know if I believe that, but Hezbollah is also fragmented, and it could have happened a dozen different ways.

We really need to be allowed to hear the intercepts - like that's going to happen.