Obama Not Ready to Order Syria Strike but Gives Up on U.N.
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
President Barack Obama said Wednesday he had not yet signed off on a plan to strike Syria, but action appeared likely after Washington abandoned the hunt for a last-minute U.N. mandate.
Political uproar in London, meanwhile, cast doubt on whether Britain will join American military action to punish President Bashar Assad's regime for a chemical weapons attack, should the response take place before next week.
And a team of U.N. inspectors pressed on with its hazardous work in Damascus, testing victims of the alleged poison gas attack, which killed hundreds of people last week and threatens to draw reluctant Western states into a vicious civil war.
Obama, who has warned that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a U.S. "red line," said Washington had definitively concluded that the Assad regime was to blame for last week's attack.
A senior White House official told Agence France Presse that the administration will brief senior U.S. lawmakers on Thursday about classified intelligence about the chemical attack.
Asked how close he was to ordering a U.S. strike, expected to start with cruise missile raids, Obama told PBS NewsHour: "I have not made a decision."
But he warned that U.S. action would be designed to send a "shot across the bow" to convince Syria it had "better not do it again."
He admitted that the limited strikes envisioned by the White House would not stop the killing of civilians in Syria but said he had decided that getting involved in a civil war that has already killed 100,000 people would not help the situation.
The U.S. leader, who wants to seal a legacy of ending foreign wars, not getting into new ones, argued that it was vital to send a clear message not just to Syria, but around the world.
"We do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on weapons like chemical weapons that could threaten us, that they are held accountable."
Earlier, Washington bluntly signaled that a U.N. Security Council resolution proposed by Britain that could have given a legal basis for an assault was going nowhere, owing to Russian opposition.
"We see no avenue forward, given continued Russian opposition to any meaningful Council action on Syria," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
"We cannot be held up in responding by Russia's continued intransigence at the United Nations, and quite frankly the situation is so serious that it demands a response," Harf said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron was meanwhile slowed by a parliamentary revolt and was forced to pledge he would not order military action until the report by U.N. inspectors has been published.
Cameron plans to put his case to lawmakers on Thursday, but with a majority in doubt on the issue a second vote, possibly early next week, will now have to take place before British forces can join the fray.
White House officials would not immediately say whether Washington would wait for Britain before launching any military action.
29 August 2013, 08:08
46
Obama think of your heritage ( Kenya ) what did the British Empire do to your Ancestors ? They just paid them $3000 each due to the atrocities they did to your ancestral forefathers , now is this how you going down in history to be remembered ?
Do not use " FORCE " otherwise it's against your own people & future generation to come for you to be Remembered as a Peaceful Diplomatic President that says " Yes We Can " !
Now is the time to prove yourself Mr . President Obama " Yes we Can " resolve this problem without any FORCE !
Signed Wolf !!
29 August 2013, 09:53
27
First of all, nothing that Wolf said was racist. If there's anybody that's racist, it's probably you.
29 August 2013, 11:49
17
J_sadistic
Go & support your beloved Lady Gaga , KSA , GCC states & the Israelis Masters .
You are a sadistic sectarian psychopathic killers that sell not only yourselves but your own mothers wives sister n laws brothers & country for dollars , why don't you & your kind have a baptist cleansing by the Jordan River then after that go & swim the full width of the Red Sea ! If you survive then you are cleansed but I doubt it ! You are a group of a 666 that deserve to be sent into hell ! So go , go & don't ever call others a racist unless you justify it first , but shame on the people that raised you , you deserve a slap on the left & right of your face tfeh alek !
Signed Wolf ....
29 August 2013, 08:15
61
I'm sure Obama checks the comments of Lebanese news sites daily. I'm also sure he is thankful that you were able to enlighten him about his heritage.
29 August 2013, 08:24
35
Let me guess what's happened: Investigations now point to FSA-Al Qaeda as the real perpetrators behind the chemical attack. Funny when Assad permitted the UN to gather evidence on the attack, the FSA-Al Qaeda rebel terrorists suddenly went silent. Coincidence? Probably not.
29 August 2013, 08:27
15
No George 710
The Israelis do it for him then its passed on to the Jewish lobby in the States , I'm sure he has received the message regardless !
Signed Wolf !!
29 August 2013, 08:49
26
@ karim
You are absolutely right , the FSA Umberralla is crumbeling they are the ones' that released the Sarin Gas as the"Aum Shinrikyo " did in 1995 in a coordinate attack at a 5 Japanese Subway that injured 5000 plus people ! Look it up , Wikipedia , " Japanese Terrorist " , Aum Shinrikyo !
Signed Wolf !!!!!!!
29 August 2013, 08:51
50
Yea you're right. I'm willing to bet it comes in some nice star of David wrapping paper as well.
29 August 2013, 09:09
25
Star of David or no Star of David who gives a " Damn "
Signed Wolf !!
29 August 2013, 09:13
52
Pretty sure people who practice Judaism care about the star of David. I'm just going on a hunch. I could be wrong.
29 August 2013, 09:27
14
Good
Just tell David to keep his private parts to himself !
Do not take another mans' wife by force ! Ie to kill him & betray him .
Signed Wolf !!!!!!!
29 August 2013, 10:08
15
Be specific george710
So that I could answer you accordingly !
Signed Wolf !
29 August 2013, 10:12
51
Answer what? I'm agreeing with you and at the same time stating that pedophilia is wrong.
29 August 2013, 12:21
15
Mr Obama, think long and hard about the unknowns about the consequences that dilerving a strike to Syria would result in.. Maybe an international oil shortage as a result of targeting GCC oil assets by Assad and his supporters, maybe it will rain rockets on tel aviv, so many other options and ways to make all participants feel a world of hurt.. Either way YOU Mr Obama and your allies are in a lose lose situation...
29 August 2013, 12:37
14
FT
Obama will not sacrifice millions of innocent people as George Bush .
He knows what would be the consequence if he did " Press " that Red button !
Not only his troops are deemed dead , but the whole ME & the rest of our World will be opened up for a Catastrophe !
Maybe this is the end of time ?
Read the book of Revelations .........
If so then a New Jerusalem ( book of Revelations 21:8) will surely be declared ! Until then Israel does not exist nor its' Capital until the KINGS OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS Reign upon our Earth !
Signed Wolf ......!!!!!!!
29 August 2013, 14:11
14
Wolf, please note that although a strongly agree with FlameThrower, I am not him. I'm a Lebanese Alawite from Jabal Mohsen and I open declare my support for the Syrian Presidency, Iran and Hizballah.
29 August 2013, 14:26
15
@distructive
Please note , I have never implied that you were FT , I highly respect your opinion when you post , but I was directly addressing my post to FT not implying that you are FT at all , there has been a misunderstanding , but thanks for the corrections . I shall continue to enjoy reading your posts in future .
Signed Wolf .
29 August 2013, 16:50
60
For a guy who put down a "red line", the picture you have is pretty apt, now he is scratching his chin wondering what to do when the bully steps over the red line.
The "shot across the bow" response is rather meaningless. It is a response for the sake of a response because to do nothing after you lay down a red line that is ignored is worse than a response for the sake of a response.
The shot across the bow is more for to save Obama's face, than to punish or deter Assad. If we were serious about punish and deter, we would aim our guns more to the water line and put a hole in Assad's boat causing it to sink.
But this, is a meaningless face saving gesture, only. A real shame that the "civilized world" has come to such a lowly state.
29 August 2013, 17:33
41
hahaha- you are hilarious. so what you are saying is that Obama's response to indiscriminate killing by the Syrian regime is for him to indiscriminately kill tens of thousands of Syrians with the push of a button? or do you think the 3 days of air strikes, at most, will kill tens of thousands of soldiers? Brilliant!
I will go ahead and spare you the effort of a response and do it for you.
"don't put words in my mouth Lebanon last". take care my friend.
29 August 2013, 20:26
00
and when you deem a revolution hijacked that gives you the right to mass murder your own people with a torturous chemical (including women and children that belong to your own beloved country) and I need to grow a brain? keep lashing out like a little kid every time someone points a comical flaw in a statement you make without thinking it through first. you have a lot maturing to do kid but I have faith in you. You are an intelligent kid but extremely immature with an unreasonable sense of entitlement at the moment.
29 August 2013, 21:50
00
you don't have to force me to believe it. I am M14 and fully agree with you that both sides have committed massacres. I lived through our civil war and lost family and friends to massacres by "sects" that come on here every day and claim that the LF were the only ones in the war responsible for massacres. So believe me when I tell you I have absolutely no doubt that people have blinders on when they speak of massacres and refuse to see the massacres they themselves took part in.
I however, find the Syrian government to be so full of BS that I will not take a single word coming out of their mouth as credible whatsoever. As for the confirmed chemical attacks, did you listen to the video about half way through? I was merely pointing out that there seems to be evidence that Syria lied about at least one incident which takes me back to their credibility or lack thereof.
