New hurdles may slow coalition response
Print Edition
President Barack Obama is vowing that US military retaliation for Syrian chemical weapons use would send a “strong signal,” as intelligence officials prepared briefings for Congress on evidence aimed at linking last week’s attack on civilians to President Bashar Assad’s government.
But new hurdles appeared to be slowing the formation of an international coalition to take military action. And questions remain about the strength of the case against Assad.
“If any action would be taken against Syria, it would be an international collaboration,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
The Obama administration vowed to take action even without the backing of allies or the UN. Obama said the US has concluded that Assad’s government perpetrated the August 21 attack near Damascus.
“And if that’s so,” Obama said during a TV interview yesterday, “then there need to be international consequences.”
US officials were in search of additional intelligence to support the White House’s case for a strike against Assad’s military infrastructure.
American intelligence intercepted lower-level Syrian military commanders’ communications discussing the chemical attack, but the communications don’t specifically link the attack to an official senior enough to tie the killings to Assad himself, according to US intelligence officials.
Obama said he was not seeking a lengthy, open-ended conflict in Syria. But he argued that Syria’s use of chemical weapons not only violated international norms but threatened “America’s core self-interest.”
“We do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on weapons like chemical weapons that could threaten us, that they are held accountable,” Obama said.
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