Morning Joe's Willie Geist asked Sen. Angus King about the statement from the White House "suggesting that an attack by Syria, a chemical attack on its own people was imminent.
"You sit on Intel and Armed Services. Did the White House talk to you or anyone in the Senate before putting this statement out?" Geist asked.
"Certainly not to me," King said.
"I don't know whether they were in touch with the leadership of the intelligence committees. They might have been, but I have not heard anything along those lines.
"I do know from President Obama's experience, you have to be careful when you draw red lines, and you have to be prepared to back it up. That was one of the things that undermined President Obama's credibility in the Middle East."
"What should we read into that statement from the White House? What was the point of the statement?" Geist asked.
"At the end, I recall, it said if they do this, they'll pay a heavy price. That sounds like a red line, and it sounds like they're preparing to take action," King said.
"A month or so ago, they did take action with a strike on the airport. That's a possibility."
He warned that Syria is "one of the most complicated situations," with 1,200 opposition groups opposing Assad.
"Who is on which side? Who do we want, and what happens if Assad goes? These are complicated situations. Plus, Asaad has one of the best air defense systems in the world, so it's not like we can just fly into Syria and do something, and not have some results or consequences."
What could possibly go wrong?
