horse of george

What happens if, as seems very likely, Obama's response to Assad is merely a token effort that does no real or lasting harm to Assad's capabilities and in response he, with Iranian Republican Guard help, possibly even Russian, doubles down on the violence but with conventional weapons - in short, does more damage with a conventional attack than his purported gassing atrocity did, and thus challenges Obama to do what his timid response would clearly suggest he very much does not want to do? I have a strong inclination to believe that if Obama's response is tepid that is exactly what we'll see - if Iran decides that Obama is weak and on the run and they see it as to their advantage to drive that point home [which I'm not entirely sure it is] then expect timid action by Obama to be answered with a conventional challenge.