Obama blinks on Syria, asks for Congress approval
WASHINGTON, (AFP) — US President Barack Obama has postponed threatened missile strikes against Syria in a risky gamble that he can win more support for his plan to punish Bashar Assad’s regime.
To general surprise, the US leader broke with decades of precedent to announce that he would seek approval from Congress for action against Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons.
ThLs HffHFWLvHOy SushHG PLOLtary action back until at least Sept. 9, when US lawmakers return from their summer recess.
Obama insisted that he reserves the right to strike regardless of Congress’s decision, and D WhLWH HRusH RffiFLDO sDLG WhH pause would also allow him time to build international support.
The Arab League will meet in Cairo this week and is expected to condemn Assad, and Obama will travel to Russia next week for a G20 Summit that will now be overshadowed by the crisis.
But the toughest battle, and perhaps the most dangerous for Obama’s credibility, may yet be with his own former colleagues in Congress, where support for strikes is far from assured.
Indeed, observers warned that he faces the same fate as Prime Minister David Cameron, who on Thursday lost his own vote on authorizing military action in the British parliament.
“The chairman of the joint chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose,” Obama warned during an address in the White House Rose Garden.
“Our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive. It wLOO bH HffHFWLvH WRPRUURw RU next week or one month from now.”
At least five US warships armed with scores of Tomahawk cruise missiles have converged on the eastern Mediterranean ready to launch precision strikes on Syrian regime targets.
France, which announced its “determination” alongside the US, said it is ready to deploy its own forces in the operation.
Syria, meanwhile, sDLG LW hDs LWs “finJHU on the trigger” as it braces for what it had formerly feared was an imminent Western strike.“The Syrian army is fully ready, its finJHU Rn WhH WULJJHU WR IDFH Dny challenge or scenario that they want to carry out,” Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said.
And the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards warned that Western action would trigger reactions beyond the borders of Tehran’s key regional ally.
“The fact that the Americans believe that military intervention will be limited to within Syrian borders is an illusion,” said commander Mohammad Ali Jafari.
Shortly before Obama’s remarks, a team of UN inspectors left Syria after spending four days investigating last week’s alleged chemical attacks on suburbs of Damascus.
he rgani ation for the Prohibition of hemical ea ons said that analysis of sam les taken at the site would take u to three weeks.
A s okesman romised they would give a fair re ort after conducting these lab tests, but ashington and its allies insist they already know all they need to know.
he bama administration said it has reliable intelligence that the regime launched a chemical onslaught that killed , eo le, including at least children.
President Vladimir Putin of ussia, a close ally of Syria, branded the claims “utter nonsense” and demanded roof.
Syria has denied res onsibility for the alleged incident and has ointed the finger of blame at “terrorists”— its term for the rebels ranged against Assad’s forces.
In Damascus, the mood had been heavy with fear, and security forces were making re arations for ossible air strikes, ulling soldiers back from otential targets.
esidents were seen stocking u with fuel for generators in case utilities are knocked out by a strike.
he nited States, faced with an im asse at the Security ouncil and the British arliament’s shock vote, has been forced to look elsewhere for international artners.
fficials said bama would lobby world owers on the sidelines of ne t week’s St. Petersburg summit, while at home the hite ouse was reaching out to lawmakers.
bama’s Democrats control the Senate but the ouse of e resentatives is in the hands of his e ubli- can foes and both sides are divided on the issue, making the outcome uncertain.
In a bid to ease fears of another o en- ended war, the hite ouse formally asked ongress for authori ation to conduct military strikes in Syria in a draft resolution framing a narrow set of o erations.
he document said su ort from ongress would “send a clear signal of American resolve.”
“ he ob ective of the S use of military force in connection with this authori ation should be to deter, disru t, revent and degrade the otential for future uses of chemical wea ons or other wea ons of mass destruction,” it added.
e ublican Senator Bob orker, who su orts a limited “surgical” strike against Syria, said that bama should use “every ounce of olitical ca ital that he has to sell this.”
“I think it is roblematic and it could be roblematic in both bodies,” orker warned.
In a further com lication, hawkish senators ohn c ain and Lindsey raham, said they could not su ort bama’s lan for limited strikes that would not to le Assad.
ore than , eo le have died since the Syrian conflict eru ted in arch , and two million have become refugees, half of them children, according to the nited ations.