‘What’s the risk of doing nothing?’: Kerry lays out case for strike against ‘thug, murderer’ in Syria
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesUS Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about the situation in Syria Friday.
Edging toward a retaliatory strike, the Obama administration bluntly accused the Syrian government of Bashar Assad on Friday of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1,429 people — far more than previous estimates — including 426 children.
“Some cite the risk of doing things” in response, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a speech Friday, “But we need to ask what is the risk of doing nothing.”
Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. knows, based on intelligence, that the Syrian regime carefully prepared for days to launch a chemical weapons attack.
“Read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources,” Kerry said at the State Department. “This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people.”
U.S. State DepartmentA map released by the U.S. government Friday showing the battle lines in Syria.
The intelligence community’s findings “are as clear as they are compelling,” Kerry said as the four-page report was released. If the U.S. doesn’t respond, he said, “there will be no end to the test of our resolve.”
The Secretary of State “personally called” Syrian authorities after the attack telling them to let UN inspectors into the site. Instead of agreeing, though, the regime shelled the area in an attempt to “destroy evidence” at a rate four times higher than normal, Kerry said.
Kerry says Syrian regime personnel were at the site of the attack for three days beforehand, making preparations. He says regime elements were told to prepare by putting on gas masks.
The U.S. also knows where the rockets were launched from. He says the rockets came from regime-controlled areas, he said.
“We need to ask: what is the risk of doing nothing?” Kerry said Friday.
“…We know after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war. Believe me, I am too,” but the international community cannot allow a “thug and a murderer” to use weapons of mass destruction with impunity.
The Obama administration released a report Friday saying it has “high confidence” that Syria’s government carried out a chemical weapons attack last week outside Damascus.
The U.S. chemical weapons assessment says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government used an unidentified nerve agent in the attack. The report cites human and satellite intelligence that it says backs up publicly available videos and other evidence.
The report says the “high confidence” assessment is the strongest position that U.S. intelligence agencies can take short of confirmation.
It dismisses the Assad government’s contention that rebels were responsible.
The U.S. says additional intelligence remains classified but is being provided to allies and Congress.
The United States found itself Friday with France as its only major partner in a potential strike against Syria, after a stunning rejection of military force in Parliament forced Britain, America’s staunchest ally, to pull out of any operation.
The collapse of British support for a mission to punish Syria for allegedly using chemical weapons puts pressure on President Barack Obama as resistance grows at home — and comes with the irony that France was the most vocal critic of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
In 2003, U.S. lawmakers went so far as to change the name of the French fries served on Congress’s cafeteria: the birth of “freedom fries.”
French President François Hollande pledged backing for a potential American operation to hit the Damascus regime.
“The chemical massacre of Damascus cannot and must not remain unpunished,” Hollande said in an interview published Friday by the newspaper Le Monde, as UN experts in Damascus began what is expected to be the last day of their probe into the alleged attack.
AP Photo/Edlib News NetworkSyrians search under rubble to rescue people from houses that were destroyed by a Syrian government warplane in Idlib province Friday.
Amid the turmoil of a British “no” and mounting American skepticism, Obama appeared undeterred in his desire to punish Syrian leader Bashar Assad, and advisers said he would be willing to retaliate against Syria on his own.
Amid the turmoil of a British “no” and mounting American skepticism, Obama appeared undeterred in his desire to punish Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, and advisers said he would be willing to retaliate against Syria on his own.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, speaking from Manila, Philippines, issued an impassioned defence of the principles behind the planned strike.
AP Photo/Edlib News NetworkSmoke rises after explosives were dropped by a Syrian government warplane in Idlib province.
“I don’t know of any responsible government around the world … that has not spoken out in violent opposition to the use of chemical weapons on innocent people,” Hagel said, adding that such attacks violate basic standards of decency.
He said that Washington would continue to seek partners in its Syria mission: “Our approach is to continue to find an international coalition that will act together.”
On Thursday, the U.S. administration shared intelligence with lawmakers in an effort to persuade them that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday made his most forceful comments yet about the need for military strikes against the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
Yet the prime minister also made it clear his government has no immediate plans to deploy a military mission to Syria.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesGeorge Sabra, President of the Syrian National Council, after his meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in Montreal Wednesday.
Speaking at an event in Toronto, Harper said his government “has been a very reluctant convert to the idea that there needs to be some western military action regarding the Syrian situation.”
The prime minister noted the two-year war has become increasingly religious in nature, and that there do not appear to be any “ideal or obvious outcomes.”
However, he left no doubt he stood solidly behind his U.S., British and French counterparts when it came to both holding the Syrian government responsible for the nerve gas attacks and taking “forceful action” in retaliation.
Death is the same, be it with a mortar or with an American missile. I’m not afraid
In Damascus, shops and supermarkets filled with people stocking up on bread, canned food and other necessities ahead of the expected strikes, although there appeared to be no signs of panic or food shortages. Prices have shot up because of the high demand, residents complained.
Kheireddine Nahleh, a 53-year-old government employee, put on a brave face.
“We got used to the sound of shelling,” he said. “Death is the same, be it with a mortar or with an American missile. I’m not afraid.”
On the last expected day of chemical weapons inspections, three UN vehicles headed out for more on-site visits, following an early morning delay.
Ahmad Aboud / AFP / Getty ImagesA general view shows a heavily damaged street in Syria's eastern town of Deir Ezzor on August 26, 2013. Bombing stockpiles of chemical weapons — purposely or accidentally — would likely kill nearby civilians in an accidental nerve agent release, create a long-lasting environmental catastrophe or both, five experts told The Associated Press
The UN has said the inspectors will wrap up their investigation Friday and leave Syria for the Hague, Netherlands, on Saturday. Some of the experts will travel to laboratories in Europe to deliver the material they’ve collected this week during trips to the Damascus suburbs purportedly hit by toxic gas.
Russia, which as a firm backer of the Assad regime is fiercely hostile to military intervention, expressed bewilderment Friday at why the UN team was leaving so soon.
“We don’t quite understand why the entire team had to be going back to the Hague when there are many questions about a possible use of chemical weapons in other areas in Syria,” said Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the timing reflected the urgency of getting any samples to laboratories, noting that the inspectors must do that themselves to “ensure the chain of custody.” He said the inspectors intend to return to Syria to investigate other alleged attacks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that military strikes would lead to long-term destabilization of Syria and the region. He has spoken against any use of force without UN Security Council approval, which he said would be a “crude violation of international law.” Russia has remained a strong ally of Syria throughout the civil war, which has left more than 100,000 people dead.
In Paris, Hollande suggested that action could even come ahead of Wednesday’s extraordinary session of the French Parliament, called to discuss the Syria situation; lawmakers’ approval is not needed for Hollande to order military action.
“I will not take a decision before having all the elements that would justify it,” he told Le Monde. However, noting that he had convened parliament, he added: “And if I have [already] committed France, the government will inform [lawmakers] of the means and objectives.”
Files from David Espo And Elaine Ganley, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and National Post staff
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