...Leaving Assad’s regime unpunished and undeterred puts “Americans at risk of chemical attacks, targeted at our soldiers and diplomats in the region and potentially our citizens at home,” Rice said in a speech in Washington as the Obama administration ramped up its efforts to build popular support for limited strikes in Syria....

Strikes would take aim at Assad’s chemical weapons stockpiles and potentially “shake his confidence in the viability of his relentless pursuit of a military solution,” Rice said. But they would not “aim to topple Assad or on their own to effect regime change” because, “as President Obama has made clear, it is neither wise nor necessary to do so.”