Gee, such a decisive statement. And in all of this, no one in the Obama Administration has gone on the record to state unequivocally that the Syrian government was responsible for the gas attack. So let's say Assad signs the treaty and takes concrete steps to comply, yet the gas attacks continue? Then what? Or better yet, what if Obama fails to submit his long term policy on Syria just as he has failed to do on every other long-term commitment he had?
That's the setup. Currently, Syria is not a signatory to the convention against chemical weapons, so the UN can't cry foul. If the Syrian Government signs, however, the lawyers at the UN can justify intervention in the event there is any apparent violation of the treaty.
With the rush to make sure exactly who let exactly what loose in Syria already, I have little faith that there would be anything other than a knee-jerk reaction to any release of chemical agents there, no matter if there was live streaming video of a third party power aircraft with full audio communications dropping the weapon.
It is a trap, and whether or not you find anything to like about Assad, he is the head of a legitimate government resisting a rebellion which is aided by numerous outside interests, including the people we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The enemy he is fighting does not wear uniforms, and all that separates a combatant from a civilian in the western lens is the presence or absence of a weapon. So, someone steps in and polices up the AKs, grenades, and RPG launchers, and you have an instant civilian massacre--add press corps and stir.
In the past, we have seen the Fauxtography from Lebanon, idiot journalists who posted video of professional victims holding (unfired) cartridges while claiming their house was hit by the bullets, and the escapades of Green Helmet Guy, driving a refrigerated morgue truck around and setting up corpses to film as victims of artillery or air strikes.
Just another small dab of propaganda, a little set dressing, some western mediots, and we have a situation ripe to ignite WW III.
Still, the essential question of just exactly who set off what and by what means remains.