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Obama: Syria chemical attack would cross US 'core national interests'

President Obama is consulting with allies and advisers over what the US response would be if the Syrian Government did in fact attack a rebel village with chemical weapons.
U.S. President Barack Obama talks about the Trayvon Martin case in the press briefing room at the White House in Washington, July 19, 2013. Obama on Friday jumped into the debate over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who killed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, declaring that Martin "could have been me, 35 years ago" and urging Americans to understand the pain blacks felt over the case.  REUTERS/Larry Downing  (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11S7A

President Obama said Friday the United States was consulting with allies and considering how to respond if an investigation determines that Syria used chemical weapons in an alleged attack on rebel-held villages in the eastern Damascus suburbs of Ghouta this week.

“Although the situation in Syria is very difficult…there is no doubt that when you start seeing chemical weapons used on a large scale… then that starts getting to some core national interests that the United States has, both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating, as well as needing to protect our allies, our bases in the region,” Obama told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in an interview aired Friday.

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