The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

by Samantha Power

These were among the many dynamics that those of us advising the President had debated prior to August 21st and now were discussing anew as he prepared to order military action. Yet for the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict, even when considering all of these potential downsides, Obama had concluded that the costs of not responding forcefully were greater than the risks of taking military action. Whereas on Libya he had sought a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force, here—given the stakes for Syria and for upholding the international norm against the use of chemical weapons—Obama was prepared to operate without what White House lawyers called a “traditionally recognized legal basis under international law.” The lawyers suggested that, given the vast number of international obligations Assad’s regime had violated, acting without the Council could, as it was in the case of Kosovo, be “justified and legitimate under international law.”