Attempting to describe the scope of possible American action in Syria to “degrade” the regime’s chemical weapons capacity, an official told USA Today, “If Assad is eating Cheerios, we’re going to take away his spoon and give him a fork. Will that degrade his ability to eat Cheerios? Yes. Will it deter him? Maybe. But he’ll still be able to eat Cheerios.” The analogy was supposedly meant to state that Assad would remain in power, and he would still have capacity to use chemical weapons, but that it would be more difficult for him to do so.