Deadline pushed for US action in Syria
The US Senate resolution authorising President Barack Obama to use military force against Syria would bar American ground troops for combat operations and set a deadline for any action.
The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the draft resolution that the Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Wednesday.
The measure would set a time limit of 60 days and says the president can extend that for 30 days more with congressional approval.
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the committee, and Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican, agreed on the measure late on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry made a passionate plea to a Senate panel for lawmakers not to succumb to “armchair isolationism” after a chemical weapons attack last month in a Damascus suburb, which the US says killed more than 1,400 people.
The dramatic developments in Washington came as the UN refugee agency released grim new statistics revealing more than two million people had now fled the violence in the war-torn country.
“This is not the time for armchair isolationism. This is not the time to be spectators to a slaughter. Neither our country nor our conscience can afford the cost of silence,” Kerry insisted before the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
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He warned that other countries such as Iran and North Korea, under fire for its suspect nuclear programs, were closely watching.
“They are listening for our silence,” Kerry intoned, during a sometimes heated debate with his former Senate colleagues.
His words were echoed by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who said a US refusal to act after Obama had clearly set chemical weapons use as a “red line” would undermine America’s credibility abroad.
“The word of the United States must mean something. It is vital currency in foreign relations and international and allied commitments,” Hagel stressed.
At earlier White House talks with congressional leaders, Obama said he hoped for “prompt” Congressional votes next week on authorising “proportional” and “limited strikes” against Syria.
House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor – key Republicans who have had frosty relations with Obama on domestic policy – both said they would support his plan.
“This is something that the United States as a country needs to do,” Boehner said, calling on Republican colleagues to follow his example.
But in a sign of the deep public misgivings over wading into another foreign conflict, the hearing was interrupted several times by protesters.
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Two polls released on Tuesday showed strong opposition to a US military intervention in the crisis.
Some 48 per cent of Americans told a Pew Research Center survey that they opposed “conducting military air strikes” with only 29 per cent in favour.
A poll by the Washington Post-ABC found a similar margin of nearly six in 10 Americans opposed to missile strikes.
But influential Republican Senator John McCain lambasted the administration for delaying its response for so long, before now signalling its intent.
“You tell the enemy you’re going to attack them, they’re obviously going to disperse and try to make it harder,” he said.
The Republican-controlled House, which will hear from top administration officials on Wednesday, is seen as the tougher sell for Obama.
Obama said the August 21 attack, which Washington says involved the use of sarin, posed a serious national security threat to the United States and its allies.
For his part, a defiant Assad warned in an interview with Western media released on Monday that strikes of any kind could set off a wider Middle East conflict.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon also warned that a western military strike could make things worse.
AFP/AP
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