The question for most of the doubters is not whether a chemical weapons attack occurred; there seems to be widespread acceptance of that fact. The question is whether there is really evidence that convincingly links the Assad regime to the attack. In addition, some question whether the administration’s claim that 1,429 people died in the attack is too high. The bottom line, as Grayson, Plame, and others have suggested, is that they believe the Obama administration might be manipulating the evidence for war the way they accused the Bush administration of doing so back in 2002 and 2003.

So far Republicans have not joined in the questioning. (One exception is Rep. Justin Amash, who told CBS on Sunday that the administration may have “embellished” the evidence.) Since most Republicans who were active in politics a decade ago defended the Bush administration’s use of Iraq intelligence, perhaps they just don’t want to raise a similar issue about Syria now, which would inevitably involve re-litigating a dispute from years ago. But most GOP lawmakers are just now returning to Washington to hear the administration’s case. If some of them join in the doubts heard on the left, then the president’s job of convincing lawmakers will become even harder.