Remind me again while it's a a good thing that we now have a foreign policy run by smart people - not that troglodyte Bush.

BBC:

Chemical weapons attacks have killed hundreds on the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian opposition activists say.

Rockets with toxic agents were launched at the suburbs of the Ghouta region early on Wednesday as part of a major bombardment on rebel forces, they say.

The Syrian army says the accusations have been fabricated to cover up rebel losses.

The main opposition alliance said that more than 1,000 people were killed by the attacks.

Activist networks also reported death tolls in the hundreds, but these could not be independently confirmed.

It is also not clear how many died in the bombardment of the sites and how many deaths were due to any exposure to toxic substances.

In a statement, the army described the accusations of chemical weapons use as grave, and stressed the military's right to fight what it described as terrorism in Syria.

It accused the opposition of fabricating the accusations to divert attention from the huge losses its forces had suffered recently.

'Shocking escalation'

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and French President Francois Hollande called for UN inspectors to be allowed access to the area and said Britain and France would raise the issue at the UN.

If confirmed, the attacks would mark a "shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria", Mr Hague said.

The Arab League echoed the call for the inspectors to go to the site.

The attack took place as part of a heavy government bombardment of the region surrounding Damascus, where government forces have been trying to drive out rebel forces.

Casualties were reported in the areas of Irbin, Duma and Muadhamiya among others, activists said.

Do you hear that laughter coming from Damascus? That's Bashar Assad who is turning the tide of war by using banned weapons that our president said were a "red line" that if crossed, serious consequences would ensue.

Of course, we know that Assad has crossed that line before - but it was just small attacks, only a few dozen people getting killed. Not worth the trouble. The only thing Obama did was threaten to arm the Syrian rebels - which he has apparently been doing all along.

Just about every tin pot brute thug in the world has these weapons. Thanks to the Assad example, it is likely that the dictators of the world will now feel safe in using those weapons on their own people.

Thanks to Obama, we have entered a new age where the use of WMD is accepted. We should all feel so much safer with the smart people in charge.