From The Guardian UK: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/07/kerry-us-allies-syria-spectators-slaughter
Secretary of state visits Paris and says Obama is yet to decide whether US will delay possible air strike until after UN report
Tom Dart
theguardian.com, Saturday 7 September 2013
Barack Obama is keeping his options open and is yet to decide whether the US will delay possible military action against the Syrian government until after a United Nations report on the Assad regime’s alleged chemical weapons attack, John Kerry said on Saturday.
The US secretary of state travelled to Europe on Friday for a three-day visit, aiming to boost international backing for a possible strike in retaliation for the suspected use of chemical weapons in Damascus on 21 August.
Kerry addressed reporters in Paris alongside Laurent Fabius, France’s foreign minister. France has emerged as the US’s key ally as it attempts to persuade the international community to support action against Syria.
While European Union foreign ministers issued a strongly-worded statement on Saturday, condemning the attack and suggesting there is “strong evidence that the Syrian regime is responsible”, the EU said that military retaliation should not occur until the UN inspectors have delivered their report.
Kerry compared Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, to Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler, repeating his contentious claim, made earlier in the week, that the trio are the only leaders to have used chemical weapons since the Geneva Protocol against such methods was signed in 1925.
“This is our Munich moment. This is our chance to join together and pursue accountability over appeasement,” Kerry said on Saturday, in a reference to the Munich Agreement between Nazi Germany and Europe’s leading powers. He added: “This is not the time to be silent spectators to slaughter … this is not the time to allow a dictator unfettered use of some of the most heinous weapons on earth.”
Kerry insisted that intervention in Syria was vital to American security. He sought to assuage concerns that it could lead to a lengthy and difficult campaign by saying that any military action would be “targeted and limited but clear and effective” and would not involve “boots on the ground”. He said: “We are not talking about going to war, this is not Iraq and it’s not Afghanistan. It’s not even Libya or Kosovo.”
Continue reading at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/07/kerry-us-allies-syria-spectators-slaughter
