The Obama administration is rapidly making the initial preparations for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces, CBS News reported Saturday.
The Pentagon's "initial preparations" will only give President Obama the immediate option of an attack. Indications Friday, based on an interview the president gave to CNN, is that he hasn't reached that point yet.
Despite the mounting indications that some sort of attack involving chemicals occurred in Syria last week, the "who" and the "what" are still far from clear. There has been no conclusive evidence -- such as toxicology reports using tissue samples from the victims -- that internationally banned chemicals like sarin were used.
President Obama personally warned Syria a year ago this month that a "red line" in the conflict was the use of chemical weapons. Thus far, however, the US has not acted on Obama's threat.
President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, sent out a Tweet on Friday calling what happened "an apparent CW (chemical weapons) attack." And the commander of US forces in the Mediterranean has ordered Navy warships to move closer to Syria to be ready for a possible cruise missile strike.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is strongly suggesting that the Pentagon is moving forces into place ahead of possible military action against Syria.
