On Thursday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel — as news was breaking that Syria had used chemical weapons on rebels within its borders — Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said it was time for President Barack Obama to make a decision on whether the United States would get involved in the conflict.
Krauthammer argued that if the United States publicly decides to stay out of the region, it could open the door for another world power to intervene.
“I think what we need to happen is for Obama to make a decision. If he wants to stay out, he should say so. And then there will be others, perhaps the French who are the mandatory colonial power in Lebanon and Syria in the past and sort of a historical connection with the Maronites in Lebanon, feel an obligation. Perhaps the French will intervene or the British. There are others in the Gulf who are really very upset about the way Iran, Hezbollah, Syria have this axis now with the Russians behind them who have opposed them and dominate them. So, they are allies.”
Krauthammer said there is historic precedent for the United States to lead first.
“Everybody waits on the United States,” he continued. “When the Gulf War happened in 1990 and the invasion of Kuwait, nobody acted. But the minute America said we are going to react with allies or without, everybody else joined the coalition. So, nothing happens until he says. But he has to say and unless he does, I think it’s going to be a ‘Hamlet’ performance and you know what happens at the end of ‘Hamlet’: Everybody dies.”