Just over 48 hours before the 1st anniversary of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons attacks near Damascus, President Obama has issued a statement of celebration:

Today we mark an important achievement in our ongoing effort to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction by eliminating Syria’s declared chemical weapons stockpile. The most lethal declared chemical weapons possessed by the Syrian regime were destroyed by dedicated US civilian and military professionals….

(This) advances our collective goal to ensure that the Assad regime cannot use its chemical arsenal against the Syrian people and sends a clear message that the use of these abhorrent weapons has consequences and will not be tolerated by the international community.

Obama’s statement does not refer to the attacks on the West Ghouta and East Ghouta areas early on August 21, 2013, killing hundreds of civilians.

Nor does it mention the continued use of chlorine gas in aerial attacks by the Syrian military.