Hagel: No rush to judgment on Syria’s chemical weapons

Hagel declined to discuss any of those possibilities, saying
only that he was providing options to the president.

{mosads}“My role and my responsibility is to present to the
president options for any contingency,” Hagel said. “I won’t speculate on those
options nor publicly discuss those options.”

The White House reiterated Monday that it did not yet know
whether the “red line” Obama set on chemical weapons had been crossed.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said that a
deadline would not be set for determining whether Assad’s forces used chemical
weapons.

Carney has said that physiological tests found sarin gas had
been used, but that the evidence needed to be verified before the president
takes more aggressive steps. Obama said Friday that if chemical weapons were
used, it would be a “game changer.”

The White House is urging Assad to
cooperate with a United Nations investigation into possible chemical weapons
use, although administration officials have said they are using other means to investigate
as well.