Massive use of chemical weapons in Syria, 1,429 killed including 426 children

[CountDeMoney]

 

France Backs U.S. on Syria Action
By DAVID JOLLY and SCOTT SAYARE

PARIS — President François Hollande of France on Friday offered strong support for international military action against the Syrian government, supporting the Obama administration just a day after the British Parliament rejected Minister Prime David Cameron's call for intervention.

A chemical attack last week attributed to Syrian forces in the Damascus suburbs by Western powers "must not go unpunished," Mr. Hollande said in an interview with Le Monde, the French daily newspaper. "Otherwise, it would be taking the risk of an escalation that would normalize the use of these weapons and threaten other countries."

A military strike against government targets would have a "dissuasion value" and push the government of President Bashar al-Assad toward a negotiated "political solution" to the conflict, Mr. Hollande said in referring to France's explicitly stated goal.

France has been outspoken in saying the government of Mr. Assad must be punished for the reported poison gas attack last Wednesday, in which hundreds of people were killed. Although Mr. Hollande has presented no specific evidence linking Syrian government to the attacks, he has spoken confidently of its culpability. Parliamentary approval is not required for French military action, and Mr. Hollande has said his government is "prepared to punish" those responsible.

"France possesses a body of evidence that goes in the sense of the regime's responsibility" for the chemical attacks near Damascus, Mr. Hollande said. The use of chemical weapons there is an "established fact," he said, and "it is known that the opposition possesses none of these weapons."

France's determination contrasted sharply with that of Germany. In Berlin, a government spokesman said Friday that "we haven't considered any German military participation and still aren't doing so," The Associated Press reported.

The spokesman, Steffen Seibert, was talking to reporters after Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told the daily Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that Germany had not been asked to contribute to military action.

Mr. Hollande's interview appeared just a day after Mr. David Cameron was handed a stinging rebuke in the House of Commons, where Parliament rejected British military participation in any strike on the Syrian government.

British legislators rejected a motion urging an international response to the chemical weapons attack by a vote of 285 to 272, reflecting concerns that there was insufficient evidence that the Aug. 21 attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus had been carried out by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Lawmakers were also worried about the strategy behind the call for limited strikes, which they feared could cause an escalation of the conflict and strengthen opposition forces aligned with Al Qaeda.

The Obama administration is nonetheless moving ahead, despite doubts in Congress and among the American public. Pentagon officials said Thursday that the Navy has moved five destroyers, each equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, into the eastern Mediterranean Sea to prepare for a possible strike.

The United States will continue trying to build an international coalition, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday in Manila, the Philippine capital.

"Our approach is to continue to find an international coalition that will act together," Mr. Hagel said. "And I think you're seeing a number of countries state, publicly state, their position on the use of chemical weapons."

The British government's decision to forego military action in Syria will not alter France's intention to intervene, Mr. Hollande said in the interview.

"Each country is sovereign to participate or not in an operation," he said.

Mr. Obama has no hope of obtaining a mandate for a military strike in the United Nations Security Council. Russia, Syria's longtime backer, has long opposed military intervention of any sort, and China, which has called for the full results of an investigation by United Nations inspectors before any decision is made, has continued to push for more diplomacy.

George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer and a senior politician in Mr. Cameron's Conservative Party, told the BBC on Friday that Parliament's rejection of military action would bring "a national soul-searching about our role in the world and whether Britain wants to play a big part in upholding the international system."

He was optimistic, however, that Britain's "special relationship" with the United States would survive. "There's a bit of hyperbole on this in the last 24 hours", he said. "The relationship with the United States is a very old one, very deep and operates on many layers."

Both Mr. Cameron's government and the Obama administration have said there was little doubt that chemical weapons had been used by government forces. The Syrian government has denied responsibility for the reported attack.

Anxiety is high in Damascus amid fear that a strike could come at any time in the next few days. The United Nations chemical weapons inspection team that has been on the ground in Syria this week was expected to carry out a final day of tests on Friday. The team is scheduled to depart Saturday morning and to brief Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, soon after.

The British Foreign Office on Friday warned its citizens "against all but essential travel" to Lebanon, citing "the recent upsurge in violence and wider regional tensions."

[Ed Anger]

My War Boner.....persists.

[CountDeMoney]

At least the French still have a sense of responsibility in maintaining a leadership role in the international community even if the Brits aren't sure who they are anymore.

Osborne's comments were on the mark.

[Ed Anger]

I must admit, the Tory guy screaming at the Tory rebels is hilarious.

[Legbiter]

Hollande is game even if the crisp-eating surrender monkeys aren't.   

[derspiess]

What's with all this talk of "intervention"?  Nobody's intervening anywhere.

[CountDeMoney]

A limited strike as a punitive action for the use of chemical weapons is not an intervention, derKissinger.

[Ed Anger]

I have renamed 'Jaffa Cakes' to 'Freedom Cakes'.

[merithyn]

I have renamed 'Jaffa Cakes' to 'Freedom Cakes'.

English Muffins are now Freedom Muffins! USA! USA!

[derspiess]

A limited strike as a punitive action for the use of chemical weapons is not an intervention, derKissinger.

Yes, it is.  You may consider it limited intervention, but it's intervention.

[CountDeMoney]

A limited strike as a punitive action for the use of chemical weapons is not an intervention, derKissinger.

Yes, it is.  You may consider it limited intervention, but it's intervention.

S'not.  Strikes will not alter, influence or change the outcome of the current conflict or affect the existence of the regime.

[Maximus]

Cruise missile strike isn't going to do jack. Might as well do nothing. It's like the Clinton era all over again.

[CountDeMoney]

Cruise missile strike isn't going to do jack. Might as well do nothing. It's like the Clinton era all over again.

And that's the great thing about it:  it's low risk with the added PR bonus that "we did something about chemical weapons RAWR".

[Capetan Mihali]

So, no lamentations?

he he

I think technically mothers count.

[derspiess]

A limited strike as a punitive action for the use of chemical weapons is not an intervention, derKissinger.

Yes, it is.  You may consider it limited intervention, but it's intervention.

S'not.  Strikes will not alter, influence or change the outcome of the current conflict or affect the existence of the regime.

Doesn't have to be effective to be considered intervention.