Huffington Magazine Issue 64-65 | Page 7

SAFIN HAMED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Enter 1 POINTERS NO ‘SLAM DUNK’ HUFFINGTON 09.01-08.13 President Obama said this week that the Syrian government is responsible for a chemical weapons attack on civilians near Damascus. “We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out,” he said on PBS. “And if that’s so, then there need to be international consequences.” However, U.S. intelligence officials have said that the connection between the attack and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or high government officials is “not a slam dunk.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel confirmed earlier in the week that the U.S. is ready to take military action if Obama gives the orders.