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Obama Administration Should Stop Conflating Syria, Iran

The Obama administration is risking a breakthrough with Iran in its rhetoric on  Syria.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin E. Dempsey (L), John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State (C), and Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense, present the administration's case for U.S. military action against Syria to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, September 3, 2013. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged quick congressional action authorizing the use of military force against Syria and won the support of leaders from both parties in the House of Representatives for limited strik

WASHINGTON — National security adviser Susan Rice appeared to be channeling her namesake and Republican predecessor Condoleezza on Monday [Sept. 9], when she insisted that if the United States failed to strike Syria for its apparent use of chemical weapons “more of the world’s most dangerous weapons” could wind up in “the world’s most dangerous hands.”

Iran and North Korea, Rice claimed, “will be emboldened to push harder for the world they want,” if the United States does not act. “We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Rice told an audience at the New American Foundation in Washington. “For our efforts to succeed, the leaders in Tehran must know the United States means what it says.”

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