Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria.

The article examines how an August 2013 comment by U.S. President Barack Obama, in which he suggested that the use of chemical weapons by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war would likely result in military action from the U.S., has restricted Obama's policy options. According to his advisors, Obama's comment was unexpected and may cause his credibility to be questioned following a report that al-Assad had used chemical weapons on a small scale.