Sheldon Richman on the U.S.'s Cynical Chemical Weapons Policy

Political and economic interests play a much bigger role in U.S. involvement in Syria than the government lets on.

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Credit: White House

Because the gruesome images of children and other noncombatants killed and wounded allegedly by Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons constitute a powerful part of Obama's appeal for public support for his missile strike (or more), it pays to take a close look at the U.S. record on chemical weapons. As Sheldon Richman points out, U.S. intervention has a history of weighing the political and economic gains over any ideals.