America: We may still go to the UN over Syria
AMERICA last night refused to rule out seeking a United Nations resolution for action in Syria, potentially delaying any air strikes even further.
Despite tough talk from the White House about the pressing need to prevent further atrocities, US Secretary of State John Kerry suggested the UN route was still open and ‘no decision has been made’.
His comments came as Barack Obama prepared to show politicians harrowing footage of the effects of a chemical attack in Syria.
The move is a last- ditch attempt to shore up support ahead of a Congress vote on limited military action this week.
The 13 videos, which politicians will watch today, show civilians including young children convulsing and frothing at the mouth, apparently from the effects of nerve gas, then left lying dead or dying, in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta last month. The footage, which was broadcast on national television in the US yesterday, has been verified by the intelligence community,
President Obama promised to put the plan to congressmen following David Cameron’s defeat in the House of Commons.
But his victory in the Senate or the Republican- controlled House of Representatives is by no means assured.
Reports suggest both are deeply divided, and many fear their constituents have little appetite for another military entanglement in the Middle East.
A defiant President Bashar al-Assad yesterday gave an interview to the US network CBS News, i n which he denied using chemical weapons against his own people, and warned of retaliatory strikes by his allies.
Mr Kerry signalled a possible return to the UN as he spoke in Paris yesterday, following meetings with French president Francois Hollande.
Mr Hollande backed intervention but is under increasing pressure at home and from other European countries to take the United Nations route.
The French president has promised to examine the report from the UN weapons inspectors before act- ing and suggested he, too, might seek a resolution from the Security Council.
The US Secretary of State, who will hold talks with Foreign Secretary William Hague in London today, said: ‘On President Hollande’s comments with respect to the UN, the president [Barack Obama], and all of us, are listening carefully to all of our friends.
‘No decision has been made by the president.’
Any attempt to get such a resolution would almost certainly be vetoed by Russia and China, and would at the very least delay any missile strikes on President Assad’s regime by weeks.
President Obama said i n St Petersburg last week that there was ‘paralysis’ within the Security Council.
The US administration has made it clear they are in no doubt the Assad regime carried out a chemical attack on August 21, killing 1,429 people including more than 400 children.
US lawmakers will consider a resolution authorising the ‘limited and specified use’ of US armed forces against Syria for no more than 90 days and specifically barring American ground troops from combat.
As the administration prepared for days of lobbying in favour of action, Mr Kerry said: ‘The vast majority of members of Congress are undecided. And that’s why the videos are being shown and the briefings are taking place.’
One of the videos shows a room full of children in brightly coloured shirts, lying pale and lifeless on the ground. In another, a man uses a resuscitation machine on a motion- less toddler. Mr Kerry said: ‘Those videos make it clear to people that these are real human beings, real children, parents being affected in ways that are unacceptable to anybody, anywhere by any standards.’
Yesterday a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not believe the UN route was being seriously considered.
‘We have always supported working through the UN but have been clear there is not a path forward there and we are not currently considering proposing another vote,’ he said.