A WAR FOR SALE: Some Arab Nations Ready to Pay for Strikes on Syria
The
list of countries ready to form a coalition for action against Syria is
growing, according to the US Secretary of State John Kerry. He said
that Arab nations had even offered to pay for any strikes.
“We
are building support with … other countries, among them the Arab
League,” Secretary Kerry said, as the US administration tried to sell
its plan for military action to punish Syria for its use of chemical
weapons.
“Specific countries that have talked in terms of acting” were “Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qataris, the Turks and the French.”
The
pressure on Syria intensified after an alleged chemical weapons attack
on a Damascus suburb in August 2013, which, reportedly claimed over
1,400 lives.
John
Kerry also told the American lawmaker that the United States had
reached out to more than 100 countries already and 57 had agreed
chemical weapons were used, and 37 of them had said so publicly.
The
President of the USA, Barack Obama, has insisted that the regime of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
has crossed a red line against the use
of chemical weapons and should be punished and his military capability
degraded.
“Thirty-one
countries or organizations have stated publicly or privately that the
Assad regime is responsible for this attack, and that was before our
evidence package was put together,” Secretary of the State Kerry said.
“And
34 countries or organizations have indicated that if the allegations
prove to be true, they would support some form of action against Syria.”
He
even suggested the United States had too many offers of help as he
sought for a second day to persuade US lawmakers to back Obama’s plan
for limited missile strikes against the Syrian regime.
“A number of them have asked to be part of a military operation,” he said.
“The Turks, a NATO country, have condemned it, pinned it on Assad, asked to be part of an operation.
“The
French have volunteered to be part of an operation. There are others
who have volunteered. But frankly … we got more volunteers that we can
use for this kind of an operation,” Kerry said.
“With
respect to Arab countries offering to bear the cost and to assist, the
answer is profoundly yes, they have. That offer is on the table,” Kerry,
adding it was “quite significant.”
“Some
of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the
whole thing the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll
carry that cost. That’s how dedicated they are to this.”
But
he stressed: “Obviously, that is not in the cards and nobody is talking
about it, but they are talking about taking seriously getting this job
done.”
He
was appearing before the House Foreign Affairs committee on the second
day of the administration’s blitz on Capitol hill to persuade lawmakers
to approve limited military strikes against Syria.
In
a sign of public opposition to the plan, anti-war demonstrators held up
red-stained hands behind Kerry’s head in a silent protest as he spoke.
Lawmakers
are now drafting a resolution to go before Congress which would give
the US administration a 60-day deadline for military intervention, which
could be extended once for 30 more days. It would also bar any American
boots on the ground.
Asked
if the time limit was acceptable to administration, Kerry said it would
be preferable to have “a trigger in there” if Assad used chemical
weapons again.
He indicated that a move to give the White House a further 60 days every time such arms were used would be acceptable.
