US accepts UN will not back force against Syria (via AFP)
The United States concedes that Russia will not allow the UN Security Council to authorize military strikes against the Syrian regime, senior White House officials said Friday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said a UN report due on…
Here’s what the main players want in the standoff over Syria (via GlobalPost)
Enlarge As diplomatic crises go, this one has had more twists and turns than a Wild Mouse. First there was the endless hand wringing over red lines turning pink and America losing its credibility in the world. When it seemed inevitable that US bombs…
Obama tells senators he wants diplomatic solution to Syria (via AFP)
President Barack Obama urged US senators Tuesday to help him seek a diplomatic response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons but said he wants Congress to maintain the threat of force. The president spent more than two hours on Capitol Hill in closed…
Obama: Russia plan on Syria arms may be ‘breakthrough’ (via AFP)
President Barack Obama said a Russian plan to head off threatened US strikes on Syria by securing a deal to destroy the regime’s chemical weapons could be a “significant breakthrough.” Obama warned Monday he had not taken military strikes off the table…
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) has proposed a solution to the use of chemical weapons in Syria that does not involve the United States bombing the country — the investigation and prosecution of those crimes against humanity.
Smith, New Jersey’s longest serving congressman and a well regarded champion of human rights, introduced a Concurrent Resolution last week that, if passed by both the House and Senate, would direct President Obama to work with the United Nations to set up a tribunal to investigate war crimes war crimes committed by the Syrian government and the rebel groups waging a civil war in the county.
In a interview with The Washington Post’s Brad Plumer, Smith, who has previously worked on war crimes tribunals involving Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, criticizes the Obama targeting “20 year-olds who might be on an air force base” rather the actual perpetrators of use of sarin gas against the Syria people, be it the Assad regime or the rebels.
A tribunal would be a non-lethal alternative to a bombing campaign — which no one knows how long it will last. During the House hearing [on Wednesday], I asked Secretary Kerry: How do you define “limited”? How do you define “short duration”? And he didn’t answer. There’s no sense that bombing will end this war. No one is even remotely suggesting that. And I’m equally concerned about a strike where there are consequences that have or haven’t been anticipated that could occur.
Smith said the tribunal should convene immediately and that there in no need to wait for the end of the Syrian civil war.
Smith said that he asked Secretary of State John Kerry at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee if the Obama administration had proof that the chemical weapons were deployed by the Assad regime. Kerry wouldn’t answer.
Smith said that he anticipated that Russia, China and the rest of the world community would support an investigative prosecutorial tribunal.
Read Smith’s interview with Plumer here.
Posted: September 9th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Smith, Syria | Tags: Chris Smith, Congressman Chris Smith, Syria, War Crimes Tribunal | 7 Comments »
Obama, Assad go head-to-head in US interview duel (via AFP)
Presidents Barack Obama and Bashar Al-Assad will go head-to-head in dueling US television interviews Monday, as a crucial week dawns for the US leader’s push for air attacks on Syria. Assad will reportedly deny that he used chemical weapons on civilians…
GOP U.S. Senate nominee Steve Lonegan said this afternoon that his Democratic opponent, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is afraid to admit his support of President Barack Obama’s desire to attack Syria.
“Mayor Booker claims he cannot say whether he will support or oppose President Obama’s proposed military attack on Syria allegedly because he has no access to classified information,” Lonegan said, calling that argument “as fake as T-Bone.”
“The American people have figured out very quickly that President Obama has not made the case that American interests are at stake in Syria,” Lonegan said. “Americans are sick of being the world’s policeman and sick of getting involved in domestic civil wars where there is no evidence that America’s national security is threatened.”
“Cory Booker is afraid to admit he supports the President’s proposed war in Syria,” Lonegan said, “so instead he attempts to hide behind the smokescreen of not having enough information. But people are on to the Mayor’s act now, and his refusal to speak out against the President’s war can only be interpreted as assent.”
T-Bone is a character in a parable that Booker used early in his political career, until the Star Ledger raised questions about the authenticity of talent. Booker claimed that T-Bone was a Newark drug dealer who once threatened his life and then a few year later pled with the mayor, in tears, to help him avoid prison. In published reports Booker has claimed that the character is both “1000% a real person” and “an archetype.”
Regarding Syria, Booker initially said he would not support a strike, then equivocated. Now he says he does not have enough information to say whether or not he would vote to authorize a military strike.
Posted: September 8th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Cory Booker, Senate Special Election, Steve Lonegan, Syria | Tags: #NJSen, Cory Booker, Steve Lonegan, Syria, T-Bone | Comments Off on Lonegan: Booker’s Syria Position Is As Fake As ‘T-Bone’
Obama warns against Syria inaction (via AFP)
President Barack Obama on Saturday warned US lawmakers against turning “a blind eye” to Syria, as Washington sought to muster European Union support for military strikes against the Damascus regime. Fresh from a G20 summit in Saint Petersburg where…
House leader: expect Syria vote within two weeks (via AFP)
The US House Republican leader told his caucus Friday to expect a vote on authorization of the use of force in Syria within the next two weeks. In an internal memo to fellow Republican members, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor laid out a busy schedule…
Published on Aug 29, 2013
Steve Lonegan holds a NEWS conference outside the Assyrian Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary, Paramus, NJ. Also speaking is Montvale Councilman Mike Ghassali and Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim. Video by Donald MacLeay.
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