President Obama is expressing cautious optimism about the diplomatic effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons.
He notes that Syria has acknowledged possessing those weapons for the first time, and has signaled its willingness to join an international ban on their use.
In his weekly address, the president says any agreement with Syria must be verifiable.
"That means working to turn Syria's chemical weapons over to international control and ultimately destroying them," he says.
Administration officials have been negotiating with Syria's ally Russia over the size of its chemical weapons stockpile and the details of dismantling it, following a chaotic week of seat-of-the-pants foreign policy.
Syria has spelled an end to Obama's no-drama reputation. Performing on the international stage, he and his cabinet secretaries have offered up one plot twist after another, though it often seems as if the actors are working without a script.
Obama used his prime-time television address on Tuesday to make the case for a military strike on Syria, in retaliation for last month's deadly gas attack. Even as he did so, Obama said he understands Americans' strong opposition to another military action.
"I've spent four and a half years working to end wars, not to start them," he said. "Our troops are out of Iraq. Our troops are coming home from Afghanistan. And I know Americans want all of us in Washington, especially me, to concentrate on the task of building our nation here at home."
In trying to justify a military strike, it was almost as though the president was arguing with himself, trying to explain why a chemical attack warranted getting involved in a war he'd studiously avoided for more than two years. Presidential historian Michael Beschloss says Obama's speeches are unusual in the way they reveal his sometimes-messy internal dialogue.
The Two-Way
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