Syrian-Americans have much to say about President Obama's stance on the country's use of chemical weapons in the August 21 attack and the escalating two-year-long civil war. Among them is Steve Jobs' biological father, John Jandali, who joined HuffPost Live following Obama's speech Tuesday.
Though he has not been back to Syria in over 35 years, Jandali expressed his disappointment at what he feels Obama has failed to do despite his stated promises.
"I have a great deal of difficulty understanding why as horrible as chemical weapons and their use is, why are we not putting this in the general context. The visual effects of seeing children and women and men dying from the use of gas is totally intolerable and should be condemned by all possible means," Jandali said. "But we have to keep in mind the fact that not only 1,400 people have been killed by chemical weapons -- over 110,000 people have been murdered and the country has been destroyed during the last two years."
He continued, "So I guess the point I'm making is, I'm happy to see there's some effort to try to respond to this international human crime. But at the same time, we ought to put it in the general context of saying what have we been doing the last two years while this guy has been murdering 10, 20,000 people every single Friday."
When asked about the President's primary intention to ban the use of chemical weapons and not necessarily to stop all humanitarian crimes in Syria, Jandali told host Marc Lamont HIll, "It not only makes me skeptical, but it makes me totally embarrassed of the fact that we have a president who is really big on speeches. Two years ago he said Bashar al-Assad is not legitimate, he should be gone. What has [Obama] done to expedite the departure of Assad. He hasn't done anything."
To hear more on this discussion, watch the full segment HERE.
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