WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama made the case for a limited military strike against Syria in response to last week’s chemical weapons attack even as he faced new obstacles with British allies and US lawmakers that could delay any imminent action.
Casting the need for intervention in Syria’s civil war on the basis of US national security interests instead of humanitarian grounds, Obama presented his clearest justification to war-weary Americans for confronting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government with ‘international consequences.’ While saying he had not yet made a decision on military action, Obama left little doubt that the choice was not whether to act but when to retaliate for last Wednesday’s gas attacks, which killed hundred of people in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus. ‘We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out,’ Obama told ‘PBS Newshour’ in a televised interview, saying it was now important to send a message that ‘it better not do it again.’ There were growing signs, however, that the timeline for launching any military strike on Syria could be complicated not only by the UN weapons inspectors’ continued presence there but by the Obama administration’s efforts to coordinate with international partners and growing demands for consultation with US lawmakers. Britain – a key player in any air assault on Syria – changed its stance, saying the UN Security Council should first see findings from international weapons inspectors and the UK parliament would hold two votes before any military action is taken. Arguing for measured intervention after long resisting deeper involvement in Syria, Obama insisted that while Assad’s government must be punished, he intended to avoid repeating Washington’s errors from the Iraq war. (PTI)