A White House official called it a "stylistic thing". "It's accurate and not meant to signal any walking away from the assessment's figure," the person said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...30912?irpc=932
which an official U.S. government assessment put at 1,429 people, including 426 children.
French intelligence says deaths from the gas attacks could be as high as 1,500, but it reported confirmed deaths from video evidence of 281.
Estimates of gas attack deaths by British intelligence, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and non-governmental group Doctors without Borders fall within a range of 322 to 355.
"stylistic"....over substance...sounds about right