I
will give this much space to this 'Skull and Bones' arsehole and his
lies
Syria
crisis: Kerry says west must not be 'silent spectators to the
slaughter'
Secretary
of state visits Paris and says Obama is yet to decide whether US will
delay possible air strike until after UN report
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."
Asked
about Obama's stance towards the UN inspectors, Kerry said: "The
president of the United States has made no decision. I will return to
Washington and obviously this will be a point of discussion but we
take that decision under advisement."
Obama
is seeking congressional approval for a strike, with US lawmakers set
to vote later this month.
The
president will give interviews on Monday to the three network news
anchors, as well as to anchors from PBS, CNN, and Fox, more evidence
of a "full court press" strategy ahead of pivotal
congressional votes on military strikes in Syria.
The
interviews will be taped on Monday afternoon and will air during each
network's Monday evening news broadcast, the White House said.
Obama
will make a nationally televised address on Tuesday.
Kerry
is also using his brief trip to hold talks on the Middle East peace
process. During a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Lithuania
earlier on Saturday, he urged the EU to put off a planned ban on
financial assistance to Israeli organisations working in the occupied
Palestinian territories, according to Reuters.
Rather
than issue punitive measures, Kerry asked the ministers to find ways
to encourage Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which resumed in
July.
On
Sunday, he is scheduled to meet representatives of Arab nations in
Paris and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in London
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