White House Says Syria Used Sarin Gas on Its Own People

Martha Raddatz discusses the U.S. assessment that Syria has used chemical weapons.

and that of a stunning statement from the White House, the US saying that it now has evidence that Syria has used chemical weapons on its own people. President Obama has said many times that would be a red line for the US to take action. But is the evidence strong enough? A question for ABC's Martha Radith join us now in Washington with Morgen.

Good Morning to you Martha.

Good Morning Josh. The language in this assessment is the strongest we have seen and very specific. The White House saying that the intelligence community believes that the Syrian regime has used the nerve agent Sarin on a small scale. That is a nerve agent that essentially paralyzes and suffocates its victims. But there are many caveats(告诫) in the statement they make clear that there is a varying degree of confidence that Sarin was used, and basically want more tests to prove it. So this seems a red line, Josh, that still has shades of gray.

But a red line, nevertheless, Martha. This is something again the President had been very clear about in the past.

President Obama did say at one point there would be enormous consequences if President Assad used chemical weapons, but we are talking about the possibility of military action in Syria or a no-fly zone so the administration is not rushing into this.