Syria 'welcomes' proposal to hand over control of chemical weapons
Jamie Crawford and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
September 9, 2013
A Free Syrian Army fighter stands on a damaged military tank in Zabadani near Damascus on Sunday, September 8. A rebel group provided the image to the Associated Press. More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since a popular uprising spiraled into a civil war in 2011, according to the United Nations. The Syrian government's suspected use of chemical weapons in a deadly August 21 attack has prompted the United States to urge military action against the regime. Click through to view the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict. HIDE CAPTION
Syrian civil war in photos
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters in Moscow that his nation "welcomes" a proposal by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during talks on Monday: put Syria's chemical weapons under international control to avert a U.S. military response over an alleged poison gas attack last month.
"I declare that the Syrian Arab Republic welcomes Russia's initiative, on the basis that the Syrian leadership cares about the lives of our citizens and the security in our country," Moallem said. "We are also confident in the wisdom of the Russian government, which is trying to prevent an American aggression against our people."
The comments came after Secretary of State John Kerry discussed a similar scenario, but the State Department said later Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could not be trusted to relinquish his country's chemical stockpiles.
The United States will take a "hard look" at the Russian proposal, but has "some serious skepticism" about whether al-Assad would follow through, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
"I think it's important to keep in mind the context in which this Russian statement and this Syrian statement is happening," she said. "This is only happening in the context of the threat of U.S. military action."
The White House did not immediately respond to Syria's statement.
But President Barack Obama appeared skeptical of that approach when asked last week about the possibility of requiring Syria to ditch of its chemical arms to stave off military action.
"We will look at these ideas," Obama said. "So far, at least, I have not seen ideas presented that, as a practical matter, I think would do the job."
Earlier Monday, Kerry said that al-Assad "could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week."
But speaking at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Kerry described that as an impossible scenario.
"He isn't about to do it and it can't be done obviously," Kerry said.
The State Department later sought to clarify Kerry's comment as a "rhetorical argument" and one U.S. official called it a "major goof" and that America's top diplomat "clearly went off script."
"His point was that this brutal dictator (al-Assad) with a history of playing fast and loose with the facts cannot be trusted to turn over chemical weapons, otherwise he would have done so long ago," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "That's why the world faces this moment."
A U.S. official said the proposal isn't very viable.
"There is no one in the administration who is taking this Syria proposal seriously," the official said.
But could the possible gaffe be the key to a diplomatic solution?
Commentator Andrew Sullivan says he hopes so.
"We have the possibility of two things: that Russia might actually act decisively to rein Assad in, and also support the only viable policy to accomplish what Obama wants -- protecting the world from these vile weapons," Sullivan wrote Monday. "I have no idea whether this is a serious move by Lavrov -- but it sure seems so, and it presents a fascinating non-binary option. It would manage to bring Russia in to solving this problem, without its having to acquiesce to what Putin regards as American grand-standing. And it would surely have some traction at the UN. Sometimes, it seems, Kerry's incompetence strikes gold. Here's hoping."
The Obama administration says the al-Assad government was responsible for an August 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus that it said killed more than 1,400 people.
Obama is seeking congressional approval for a military strike in response but is so far meeting resistance from lawmakers and the public concerned about the United States again intervening militarily in a foreign crisis.
Syria has been engulfed in a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people over the past two years, according to U.N. estimates.
Kerry is due to participate in a classified briefing about Syria to members of the House of Representatives after his return from London later Monday.
CNN's Jim Sciutto, Joe Sterling and Jake Tapper contributed to this report.
0 comments:
Post a Comment