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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says the United States cannot be the world's policeman, but he adds that the nation can save Syrian children from being gassed to death.
Using a rare prime-time television address to the nation, Obama on Tuesday said it was within the U.S.' ability to prevent Syrian President Bashar Assad (bah-SHAR' AH'-sahd) from using chemical weapons again by launching military strikes. Obama also said other nations' leaders would see the consequences of using such weapons and think twice.
Obama said the images and videos of children in pain and dying require the United States to act. He said military strikes on Syria would make Syrian and U.S. children alike safer in the long run.
But Obama conceded it is impossible for the United States to right every wrong.
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