White House: Syria Deal Either Obama’s Achievement or Russia’s Fault

Tries to Paint Deal as Vindication for Reckless War Threats

The White House has flip-flopped on whether or not the Syrian chemical weapons disarmament is a good thing more than once, sometimes several times a day. That has their spokesmen trying to spin the pact every which way.

On the one hand, Press Secretary Jay Carney sought to present the deal as vindication for President Obama’s repeated threats to attack Syria, and his effort to sell the war to the American public and Congress, which failed miserably.

Carney insisted such a deal would’ve been impossible before the threats began, despite the administration simultaneously claiming that the deal was an idea they’d been working on since the 2012 G20 summit.

At the same time, officials are making clear they’re not too happy with the deal getting in the way of their war, and Carney was quick to insist that the deal was entirely Russia’s fault, and that it was Russian prestige on the line if the deal didn’t go the way US officials hope.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.