Understanding Congress is on vacation it is interesting the leadership of the House and Senate have no plans to call Congress back in session. This is an interesting message to the American people and to those serving in our Armed Forces. We are bombarded with "support the troops" propaganda ( see No, thanks: Stop saying “support the troops” Compulsory patriotism does nothing for soldiers who risk their lives -- but props up those who profit from war 25AUG13 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/no-thanks-stop-saying-support-troops.html )
from the congressional leadership, politicians of all levels of elected office, the White House and corporate America along with the military-industrial complex. Much is made of the enormous sacrifices made by our troops, and there is no disputing that. It is interesting that the congressional leadership is not willing to interrupt Congresses vacation, a minor sacrifice, to deal with the issue of possible American military action in Syria, an issue that will affect the lives of thousands of our service men and women. So much for Congress supporting our troops.
From the Washington Post....
LONDON — Invoking the specter of the Iraq war, British lawmakers on Thursday rejected military action in Syria, dealing a stunning blow to Prime Minister David Cameron and effectively ruling Washington’s staunchest military ally out of any U.S.-led strike.
After a marathon eight-hour debate, Cameron lost a vote that was initially seen as a symbolic motion setting up a final vote in the days ahead authorizing force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for allegedly using chemical weapons. But the surprise loss of even the weaker piece of legislation — by a vote of 285 to 272, including a group of rebels from Cameron’s Conservative Party in opposition — appeared to cost the United States its centerpiece ally in a still-forming coalition. The rejection additionally signaled what analysts called the biggest rupture in the U.S.-British “special relationship” since the 1982 Falklands war.
Technically, Cameron could still authorize military strikes over the objection of Parliament, but top government officials — including the prime minister himself — indicated that was not an option following Thursday’s defeat.
“It is clear to me that the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action,” Cameron said after losing the vote. “I get that, and the government will act accordingly.”
The rejection — which dealt Cameron the most powerful setback of his premiership and came as one lawmaker shouted “resign” as the vote was read out — amounted to an extraordinary turn of events in Britain. Only two days ago, this nation appeared ready to fast-track a plan to join a U.S.-led coalition.
But over the past 24 hours, Cameron, a hawk on Syria who has long argued for a tougher response, has encountered a level of domestic political resistance that caught his government off guard. It suggested the extent of the damage done here from the faulty intelligence and mission creep that steered British troops into Iraq a decade ago.
During the debate in the House of Commons, Cameron confronted an avalanche of skepticism. In his impassioned call for action, the prime minister defended President Obama and U.S. humanitarian motives in Syria, while also acknowledging that Britons — who polls show are overwhelmingly opposed to military intervention — were understandably gun-shy after the mishaps in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“The well of public opinion has been well and truly poisoned by the Iraq episode,” Cameron said.
The door, observers said, could be open to indirect military cooperation, including intelligence sharing. But any direct military involvement — such as British missiles being launched into Syria — now appeared largely out of question.
The reluctance to back a possible U.S.-led mission, analysts said, marked a rare and major jolt to U.S.-British relations, the strategic pillar of transatlantic policy for decades that has seen Washington and London forge one of the closest military alliances of modern times.
“To not support the U.S. would be very damaging to the U.K., damaging to our relationship with the U.S. and to our global standing,” said Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan. “Britain would be diminished if we didn’t fight.”
Cameron repeatedly sought to reassure skeptical lawmakers that he was not contemplating another Iraq. “It is not about taking sides in the Syrian conflict, it is not about invading, it is not about regime change, and it is not even about working more closely with the opposition,” Cameron said. “It is about the large-scale use of chemical weapons and our response to a war crime — nothing else.”
His government sought to back up the argument for action by releasing a brief intelligence assessment of the Aug. 21 incident near Damascus, as well as a document offering legal backing for action. Bowing to earlier demands from the opposition Labor Party, he had pledged Britain would take no action until the United Nations had reviewed a report from weapons inspectors, who are in Syria examining the sites of an alleged chemical attack last week that left hundreds dead.
While Cameron conceded there was no “smoking piece of intelligence,” he argued reasonable assessments indicated that the Assad government was responsible for the deadly attack. The West, he said, had an obligation to deter a possible repeat of “one of the most abhorrent uses of chemical weapons in a century” — an apparent reference to a 1988 incident in Iraq when Saddam Hussein ordered a poison gas attack in the Kurdish town of Halabja that killed thousands of people.
Yet skeptical lawmakers repeatedly cautioned that the strikes could end up aiding al-Qaeda-backed elements within the Syrian opposition and could escalate violence while failing to deter a repeat of chemical weapons use. Many labeled the government’s intelligence inadequate and insisted that despite Cameron’s promises, Britain could be dragged into a protracted military operation.
“Those of us who were here in 2003, at the time of the Iraq war, felt they had their fingers burnt,” said Richard Ottaway, a conservative member of Parliament.
Other lawmakers, meanwhile, had sought to dispel the ghost of Iraq. “This is not Iraq, we are not putting boots on the ground and we are not invading,” longtime lawmaker Paddy Ashdown argued during a separate debate in the House of Lords on Thursday. “And above all, this is not George W. Bush. It’s Obama.”
Cameron was particularly at loggerheads with the opposition Labor Party leader, Edward Miliband, who had deepened his resistance to military strikes during the past 24 hours. In an oddly halting performance in Parliament on Thursday, he did not rule out supporting military action, but he called for “a calm and measured” analysis.
“I do not believe we should be rushed to judgment on this issue based on a political timetable set elsewhere,” he said in a clear reference to Washington.
The government first sensed major trouble after several hours of debate, following an announcement by Miliband that Labor lawmakers would vote against Syria action — marking the first time in nearly five decades that a British opposition party has rejected a government motion for military intervention.
The true depth of his opposition, however, had remained unclear, with some analysts predicting he was merely staking out a political position against a preliminary motion for action that would be reversed after U.N. weapons inspectors produced a report in the coming days. Yet the additional defection of lawmakers from the ruling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats away from the government motion ultimately doomed Cameron.
On Thursday, Miliband, however, had made one thing clear from the beginning.
“We have got to learn the lessons of Iraq,” he said in Parliament.
Karla Adam contributed to this report.
Obama has power, determination to make own decision on Syria, administration says
Britain’s sudden withdrawal came after Prime Minister David Cameron, deserted by rebels in his own Conservative Party, lost a parliamentary vote for provisional authorization for military action in Syria.
U.S. insists Obama is empowered to go it alone on Syria
White House statement comes as more lawmakers clamor for vote, Britain’s support appears unlikely.
Syrian extremists fear U.S. strikes would target them
Islamist opposition fighters and regime forces are both redeploying their forces.
Within military, deep doubts about a strike on Syria
Current and former officers fear the potential unintended consequences of a U.S. attack on Syria.
Britain backs off military intervention in Syria
Cameron’s stunning defeat in Parliament spells setback for U.S. coalition plans.
Cameron, who had strongly backed Obama’s pledge to ensure that Syria would face “consequences” for its alleged use of chemical weapons, said he would respect Parliament’s will. Many in his government attributed the vote loss to the legacy of British participation in the 2003 U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, based on false claims about weapons of mass destruction.
A statement distributed by the White House said: “The U.S. will continue to consult with the UK government — one of our closest allies and friends. As we’ve said, President Obama’s decision-
making will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States. He believes that there are core interests at stake for the United States and that countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable.”
making will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States. He believes that there are core interests at stake for the United States and that countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable.”
Both privately and publicly, administration officials continued to portray Obama as edging closer to a decision to launch a limited cruise-missile strike on Syrian military targets. As a fifth U.S. warship entered the Mediterranean, Obama’s top national security officials briefed congressional leaders on evidence that they say proves that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government killed hundreds of civilians in an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.
But as more time has elapsed between the Syrian attack and the much-previewed U.S. retaliation, the window for questions and demands from Congress, international allies and the news media has opened wider.
Nearly 200 House members from both parties have signed letters calling on the president to seek formal congressional approval for military action.
Others agree with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who said in an interview that the president has “certain powers even under the War Powers Act that he can use [in] the national interest of security, and he can act.”
But while many would support action against the Syri regime, Menendez said, “they want [Obama] to come before them and explain it.”
Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said after Thursday’s administration briefings that he would “support surgical, proportional military strikes given the strong evidence” of chemical weapons use. But Corker said that “whatever limited action is taken should not further commit the U.S. in Syria beyond the current strategy” of supporting moderate opposition forces fighting Assad’s military. He called for continued consultation and said the administration would be “far better off if they seek authorization based upon our national interests, which would provide the kind of public debate and legitimacy that can only come from Congress.”
In a telephone call Thursday with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Obama “briefed the speaker on the status of deliberations over Syria,” while Boehner “sought answers to concerns . . . including the legal justification for any strike, the policy and precedent such a response would set, and the objectives and strategy for any potential action,” said Boehner press secretary Brendan Buck.
“Only the president can answer these questions, and it is clear that further dialogue and consultation with Congress, as well as communication with the American public, will be needed,” Buck said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has been in regular contact with Obama in recent days, according to Senate aides.
The White House has said that it will provide Congress with an additional classified assessment of Assad’s responsibility for what it has called an “undeniable” chemical attack and will publicly release an unclassified version this week.
But support for a military strike appeared to be quickly waning. Even in France, where President FranƧois Hollande just days ago said Syria should be “punished,” officials called for a delay in any action until United Nations weapons inspectors, who are in Syria, complete their investigation. “Before acting, we need proof,” said Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a minister and government spokeswoman.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Vienna that the investigators will continue their on-site work near Damascus on Friday and leave Syria the next day. Ban said he expects an immediate report from the inspectors, but he has made clear that their mission is only to determine whether a chemical attack occurred, not to assign blame.
At the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China on Wednesday rejected a British-drafted resolution authorizing the use of force against Syria, the five permanent members met again Thursday. But the meeting, called at Russia’s request, lasted less than an hour and didn’t result in any action, according to U.N. officials.
State media reported that two Russian warships were traveling to the eastern Mediterranean. Russia, Assad’s principal foreign backer along with Iran, has a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, although many personnel have reportedly been evacuated in recent days.
Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, said his government would cooperate with Russia to prevent a strike against Syria, which he called an “open violation” of international law.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on “all parties to exercise restraint and calm.” Wang said that China opposes the use of chemical weapons but that the United Nations should determine what happened in Syria.
Meanwhile, the overseas edition of China’s People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s main mouthpiece, compared possible intervention in Syria to the “trick” and “excuse” used by the United States to depose Saddam Hussein in Iraq. “Use of force in Syria,” Thursday’s editorial said, “would cause even graver consequences than the war in Iraq.”
Iraq has loomed large in the debate over the wisdom of an attack on Syria and the U.S. right to conduct one.
In a now-infamous presentation to the United Nations in February 2003, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell offered audio intercepts, photographs and testimony from anonymous witnesses as proof that Hussein was developing chemical, biological and, perhaps, even nuclear weapons — despite evidence to the contrary offered by U.N. investigators.
One month later, U.S. troops invaded, backed by a multinational force whose leading contributor was Britain. Within a year, evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had collapsed. Britain’s ongoing support for the operation, with troops who remained until 2009 and the loss of 179 soldiers, was widely opposed and helped lead to the defeat of the Labor Party and Cameron’s ascension to office.
White House and State Department spokesmen Thursday parried repeated questions with assertions that Iraq — Obama opposed the 2003 invasion, calling it a “dumb war” — was different from Syria in every respect.
“As we all know in Iraq, the U.S. was trying to prove the existence of weapons of mass destruction,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. “In Syria, we know that chemical weapons not only exist but that they were used. . . . That’s undeniable.”
At the same time, Harf said, “we’re not considering analogous responses,” because Obama has repeatedly rejected full-scale U.S. military intervention in Syria.
Anne Gearan and Ed O’Keefe in Washington, Anthony Faiola in London and William Wan in Beijing contributed to this report.
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