No official decision to strike has been announced yet, but it’s virtually impossible to see any other message in the remarks made by Secretary of State John Kerry today. Kerry’s speech was nothing if not a call to war. He said that the U.S. had “compelling” evidence that Assad had used chemical weapons against his own people, and declared that those weapons “must never again be used against the world’s most vulnerable people.”

Kerry specifically dismissed concerns from both the American public and the international community. “We know that the American people are tired of war,” he said. “Believe me I am too. But fatigue does not absolve us of responsibility.”

As for the rest of the world, he said, “Let me emphasize: we believe in the United Nations.” But not enough to stay an attack.