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| In this image provided by The White House, President Barack Obama meets with his national security staff to discuss the situation in Syria, in the Situation Room of the White House, Friday, Aug. 30, 2013, in Washington, including from left national security adviser Susan Rice; Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Vice President Joe Biden. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Edging toward a punitive strike against Syria, President Barack
Obama said Friday he is weighing "limited and narrow" action as the
administration bluntly accused Bashar Assad's government of launching a
chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1,429 people - far more
than previous estimates - including more than 400 children.
No "boots on the ground," Obama said, seeking to reassure Americans weary after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With
France as his only major public ally, Obama told reporters he has a
strong preference for multilateral action. He added, "Frankly, part of
the challenge we end up with here is a lot of people think something
should be done but nobody wants to do it."
Halfway
around the world, U.S. warships were in place in the Mediterranean Sea.
They carried cruise missiles, long a first-line weapon of choice for
presidents because they can find a target hundreds of miles distant
without need of air cover or troops on the ground.
In
what appeared increasingly like the pre-attack endgame, U.N. personnel
dispatched to Syria carried out a fourth and final day of inspection as
they sought to determine precisely what happened in last week's attack.
The international contingent arranged to depart on Saturday and head to
laboratories in Europe with the samples they have collected.
Video
said to be taken at the scene shows victims writhing in pain, twitching
and exhibiting other symptoms associated with exposure to nerve agents.
The videos distributed by activists to support their claims of a
chemical attack were consistent with Associated Press reporting of
shelling in the suburbs of Damascus at the time, though it was not known
if the victims had died from a poisonous gas attack.
The
Syrian government said administration claims were "flagrant lies" akin
to faulty Bush administration assertions before the Iraq invasion that
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. A Foreign Ministry
statement read on state TV said that "under the pretext of protecting
the Syrian people, they are making a case for an aggression that will
kill hundreds of innocent Syrian civilians."
Residents
of Damascus stocked up on food and other necessities in anticipation of
strikes, with no evident sign of panic. One man, 42-year-old Talal
Dowayih, said: "I am not afraid from the Western threats to Syria; they
created the chemical issue as a pretext for intervention, and they are
trying to hit Syria for the sake of Israel."
Obama
met with his national security aides at the White House and then with
diplomats from Baltic countries, saying he has not yet made a final
decision on a response to the attack.
But the
administration did nothing to discourage the predictions that he would
act - and soon. It was an impression heightened both by strongly worded
remarks from Secretary of State John Kerry and the release of an
unclassified intelligence assessment that cited "high confidence" that
the Syrian government carried out the attack.
In
addition to the dead, the assessment reported that about 3,600 patients
"displaying symptoms consistent with nerve agent exposure" were seen at
Damascus-area hospitals after the attack. To that, Kerry added that "a
senior regime official who knew about the attack confirmed that chemical
weapons were used by the regime, reviewed the impact and actually was
afraid they would be discovered." He added for emphasis: "We know this."
The
assessment did not explain its unexpectedly large casualty count, far
in excess of an estimate from Doctors Without Borders. Not surprisingly -
given the nature of the disclosure - it also did not say expressly how
the United States knew what one Syrian official had allegedly said to
another.
Mindful of public opinion, Kerry
urged Americans to read the four-page assessment for themselves. He
referred to Iraq - when Bush administration assurances that weapons of
mass destruction were present proved false, and a U.S. invasion led to a
long, deadly war. Kerry said this time it will be different.
"We will not repeat that moment," he said.
Citing
an imperative to act, the nation's top diplomat said "it is directly
related to our credibility and whether countries still believe the
United States when it says something. They are watching to see if Syria
can get away with it because then maybe they, too, can put the world at
greater risk."
The president said firmly that
the attack "threatens our national security interest by violating
well-established international norms."
While
Obama was having trouble enlisting foreign support, French President
Francois Hollande was an exception. The two men spoke by phone, then
Hollande issued a statement saying they had "agreed that the
international community cannot tolerate the use of chemical weapons,
that it must hold the Syrian regime responsible and send a strong
message to denounce the use of (such) arms."
The day's events produced sharply differing responses from members of Congress - and that was just the Republicans.
Sens.
John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Obama
needed to go further than he seems planning. "The goal of military
action should be to shift the balance of power on the battlefield
against Assad and his forces," they said in a statement.
But
a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, Brendan Buck, said if the
president believes in a military response to Syria, "it is his
responsibility to explain to Congress and the American people the
objectives, strategy, and legal basis for any potential action."
The
looming confrontation is the latest outgrowth of a civil war in which
Assad has tenaciously - and brutally - clung to power. An estimated
100,000 civilians have been killed in more than two years, many of them
from attacks by the Syrian government on its own citizens.
Obama
has long been wary of U.S. military involvement in the struggle, as he
has been with turbulent events elsewhere during the so-called Arab
Spring. In this case, reluctance stems in part from recognition that
while Assad has ties to Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah, the
rebels seeking to topple him have connections with al-Qaida terrorist
groups.
Still, Obama declared more than a year
ago that the use of chemical weapons would amount to a "red line" that
Assad should not cross. And Obama approved the shipment of small weapons
and ammunition to the Syrian rebels after an earlier reported chemical
weapons attack, although there is little sign that the equipment has
arrived.
With memories of the long Iraq war still fresh, the political crosscurrents have been intense both domestically and overseas.
Dozens
of lawmakers, most of them Republican, have signed a letter saying
Obama should not take military action without congressional approval,
and top leaders of both political parties are urging the president to
consult more closely with Congress before giving an order to launch
hostilities.
Despite the urgings, there has
been little or no discussion about calling Congress back into session to
debate the issue. Lawmakers have been on a summer break for nearly a
month, and are not due to return to the Capitol until Sept. 9. Obama has
not sought a vote of congressional approval for any military action.
And congressional leaders of either political party have not challenged
his authority to act or sought to have lawmakers called into session
before he does.
Obama's efforts to put together an international coalition to support military action have been more down than up.
Hollande
has endorsed punitive strikes, and told the newspaper Le Monde that the
"chemical massacre of Damascus cannot and must not remain unpunished."
But
British Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to win a vote of
approval in Parliament for military action ended in ignominious defeat
on Thursday. American attempts to secure backing at the United Nations
have been blocked by Russia, long an ally of Syria.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged a delay in any military action
until the inspectors can present their findings to U.N. member states
and the Security Council.
