Obama working on another Peace Prize

Via WFB

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. had never taken the military option off the table with regards to Syria’s chemical weapons removal Thursday, leading Associated Press reporter Matt Lee to ask why the administration didn’t expect the historically deceitful Syrians to fail to meet their commitments.

“We’ve never taken the option, as it relates to Syria, off the table,” Psaki said.

The U.S. slammed Syria Thursday for failing to meet its pledge to surrender its chemical weapons for destruction, calling it an “open-ended delaying” of the disarmament process as a means of renegotiating the deal they cut last fall. “It hasn’t done anything” when the U.S. has just called out Syria for its various atrocities and abuses, Lee pointed out, but Psaki defended that tactic.

“Obviously what we’re pursuing now is the diplomatic path, both on the removal of chemical weapons and on the Geneva Conference process, so that’s where our focus is,” Psaki said.

Lee countered with President Obama’s State of the Union remarks Tuesday that “diplomacy coupled with the threat of military force” got the Syrians to agree to remove their weapons.

“Why do you not remind the Syrians today explicitly that the option of military force is still on the table to get them to live up to the agreement that they signed onto?” he asked.

Psaki sarcastically thanked Lee for his recommendation, but Lee said he was merely asking, if the administration thought that was a convincing factor for the Syrians, why not remind them of that military option.