WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama strongly suggested Tuesday that he'd consider military action against Syria if it can be confirmed that President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons in the 2-year-old civil war.
At a White House news conference, the president also defended the FBI in regard to its efforts before the deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon two weeks ago.
Asked about Syria, the president said that while there is evidence that chemical weapons were used inside the country, "we don't know when they were used, how they were used. We don't know who used them. We don't have a chain of custody that establishes" exactly what happened.
If it can be established that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, he added, "we would have to rethink the range of options that are available to us."
"Obviously there are options to me that are on the shelf right now that we have not deployed," he said, noting that he had asked Pentagon planners last year for additional possibilities.
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