Politics
Syria: Obama to address congress on military strikes, while exploring diplomatic option
A group of senators on Tuesday prepared a resolution calling for a U.N. team to remove Syria’s chemical weapons by a set deadline and allowing U.S. military action if that doesn’t happen. Congressional aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss it.
Obama on Monday told CBS, “The key is, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, that we don’t just trust, but we also verify. The importance is to make sure that the international community has confidence that these chemical weapons are under control, that they are not being used, that potentially they are removed from Syria and that they are destroyed.”
The Obama administration blames Assad for an August 21 chemical weapons attack and says more than 1,400 people were killed. The first vote in Congress on authorizing the use of military force had been expected Wednesday, but that has been delayed.
All sides, including Russia, seemed to welcome the chance to try another solution. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that his country was working with Syria to prepare a detailed plan of action. Lavrov said Russia will then be ready to finalize the plan with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
France’s foreign minister said France will offer a resolution in the U.N. Security Council aimed at forcing Syria to make public its chemical weapons program, place it under international control and dismantle it.
Western officials are still cautious about possible stalling tactics by Assad’s regime in Syria, where more than 100,000 people have died in more than two years of civil war.
In his interviews, Obama declined to say what he would do if lawmakers rejected his proposal for limited military strikes.
