Remarks on Syria - John Kerry

Remarks on Syria - John Kerry

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John Kerry
Secretary of State
Press Briefing Room

Washington, DC

August 26, 2013

Well, for the last several days President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation in Syria, and today I want to provide an update on our efforts as we consider our response to the use of chemical weapons.

What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders, by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard it is inexcusable, and despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.

The meaning of this attack goes beyond the conflict in Syria itself, and that conflict has already brought so much terrible suffering. This is about the large-scale, indiscriminate use of weapons that the civilized world long ago decided must never be used at all – a conviction shared even by countries that agree on little else. There is a clear reason that the world has banned entirely the use of chemical weapons. There is a reason the international community has set a clear standard and why many countries have taken major steps to eradicate these weapons. There is a reason why President Obama has made it such a priority to stop the proliferation of these weapons and lock them down where they do exist. There is a reason why President Obama has made clear to the Assad regime that this international norm cannot be violated without consequences. And there is a reason why no matter what you believe about Syria, all peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common humanity must stand up to assure that there is accountability for the use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again.

Last night after speaking with foreign ministers from around the world about the gravity of this situation, I went back and I watched the videos, the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and I watched them one more gut-wrenching time. It is really hard to express in words the human suffering that they lay out before us. As a father, I can’t get the image out of my head of a man who held up his dead child, wailing while chaos swirled around him; the images of entire families dead in their beds without a drop of blood or even a visible wound; bodies contorting in spasms; human suffering that we can never ignore or forget. Anyone who can claim that an attack of this staggering scale could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass.

What is before us today is real, and it is compelling. So I also want to underscore that while investigators are gathering additional evidence on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts informed by conscience and guided by common sense. The reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, the firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground like Doctors Without Borders and the Syria Human Rights Commission – these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real, that chemical weapons were used in Syria.

Moreover, we know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets. We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place. And with our own eyes, we have all of us become witnesses.

We have additional information about this attack, and that information is being compiled and reviewed together with our partners, and we will provide that information in the days ahead.

Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up. At every turn, the Syrian regime has failed to cooperate with the UN investigation, using it only to stall and to stymie the important effort to bring to light what happened in Damascus in the dead of night. And as Ban Ki-moon said last week, the UN investigation will not determine who used these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used – a judgment that is already clear to the world.

I spoke on Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Muallim and I made it very clear to him that if the regime, as he argued, had nothing to hide, then their response should be immediate – immediate transparency, immediate access – not shelling. Their response needed to be unrestricted and immediate access. Failure to permit that, I told him, would tell its own story.

Instead, for five days, the Syrian regime refused to allow the UN investigators access to the site of the attack that would allegedly exonerate them. Instead, it attacked the area further, shelling it and systematically destroying evidence. That is not the behavior of a government that has nothing to hide. That is not the action of a regime eager to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons. In fact, the regime’s belated decision to allow access is too late, and it’s too late to be credible. Today’s reports of an attack on the UN investigators, together with the continued shelling of these very neighborhoods, only further weakens the regime’s credibility.

At President Obama’s direction, I’ve spent many hours over the last few days on the phone with foreign ministers and other leaders. The Administration is actively consulting with members of Congress and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead. President Obama has also been in close touch with the leaders of our key allies, and the President will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons. But make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.

Thank you.

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Obama, Rudd discuss possible response to chemical weapons in Syria

27/08/2013 | 09:47 AM | World News

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday discussed the ongoing violence in Syria, the White House said.

"The two leaders expressed their grave concern about the reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against civilians near Damascus on Wednesday, August 21," said the statement released by the White House.

Obama and Rudd discussed "possible responses by the international community and agreed to continue to consult closely," it said.(end) rm.asa KUNA 270947 Aug 13NNNN

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3 days of U.S. cruise missile strikes expected to hit Syria this week --officials

27/08/2013 | 05:39 PM | World News

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (KUNA) -- Senior U.S. officials on Tuesday said missile strikes against Syria could be launched as early as Thursday in response to the suspected use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.

The "three days" of strikes would be limited and intended to send a message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rather than degrading his military capabilities, U.S. officials said.

Military analysts on Tuesday said they expected the United States to attempt to target the specific groups in the Assad regime believed most responsible for the use of chemical weapons, including the large-scale, deadly attack alleged to have occurred outside Damascus last Wednesday. (end) rm.ajs KUNA 271739 Aug 13NNNN

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Urging action, Hollande warns Syrian conflict threatens world peace

27/08/2013 | 07:13 PM | World News

PARIS, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- Promising a stern response to the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war, French President Francois Hollande warned on Tuesday that the conflict in Syria is threatening world peace.

Speaking at a conference of French ambassadors here, Hollande vowed that France would assume its international responsibilities and would take punitive action against the Syrian regime, which he said is the key suspect in having used chemical weapons in a bombardment near Damascus last Wednesday.

At least 360 people died and hundreds were wounded in the attack in the outer suburbs of the Syrian capital and UN inspectors are currently gathering evidence on what appears to be the use of toxic nerve agents.

Opposition sources say that as many as 1,300 may have died in the WMD attack but figures are difficult to corroborate. While no firm conclusion has been arrived at as yet, Western countries, including France, blame the chemical weapons use on the Syrian regime, and several important Arab nations and Turkey also point the finger at the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. The French leader told his nations ambassadors that "the world has been astonished after the confirmation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria," although he did not say where this confirmation came from.

A UN mission is on-site to investigate other alleged cases of chemical weapons but the team has been diverted to the Damascus incident. "Everything leads us to believe that it is the regime that has committed this abject act which condemns it definitively in the eyes of the world," Hollande affirmed. He asserted that the Syrian regimes violation was even more striking as it chose to use arms that have been banned for 90 years by the international community and its conventions.

Hollande also recalled that the conflict had caused more than 100,000 lives and was "spreading to the whole region," to Lebanon, with bomb attacks, to Iraq with growing violence and to Turkey and Jordan where increased flows of refugees were creating instability.

"This (Syrian) civil war today threatens peace in the world," he warned. The President recalled the history of French action to try to find a solution in Syria and the support given to the Syrian opposition movement. Indeed, he said that after the latest actions by the regime, France has decided to increase by unspecified amounts its "military" aid to the Syrian rebels, all the while respecting European Union policies on military equipment. "Today, our responsibility is of a different kind. It is to find the most appropriate riposte to the abuses of the Syrian regime, once the UN mission of enquiry has completed the essentials of its work," he indicated.

"The chemical massacre in Damascus cannot go unanswered and France is ready to punish those who took the infamous decision to gas innocent people." Hollande said that in the past days he has had multiple contacts with Frances Western allies and with Arab nations "to envisage all options." The French presidency is summoning a special "Defence Council Meeting" on Wednesday to discuss the situation and Hollande said that the parliament would be informed in a short period of time. (End) jk.ajs KUNA 271913 Aug 13NNNN

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Kuwait reiterates condemnation of Syrian regime use of chemical weapons

27/08/2013 | 08:55 PM | Arab News

CAIRO, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- Kuwait strongly denounced Tuesday as a "heinous crime" the Syrian regime's resorting "to the use of chemical weapons and toxic gases against the people in East Ghouta," close to Damascus.
Kuwaiti Permanent Delegate to the Arab League Ahmad Al-Bakar was speaking to Arab League member states in an extraordinary meeting aimed at discussing the Syrian crisis.
Al-Bakar also pointed out Kuwait's earlier call to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN inspection mission to Syria to investigate the chemical weapons use allegations.
"The UN Security Council should also shoulder its responsibility towards such a crime, in particular, and the humanitarian ordeal which the Syrian people are living under," he said.
Al-Bakar voiced full support to the Arab League's moves in tackling the crisis in Syria, and held the Syrian regime responsible for the worsening situation there. (end) mab.mfm.rj.ibi KUNA 272055 Aug 13NNNN

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Arab League talks lay full blame of chemical attack on Syrian gov''t

27/08/2013 | 09:20 PM | Arab News

(With photos) CAIRO, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- An Arab League council extraordinary session meeting on Syria took place Tuesday to discuss an approach to the possible international use of force against the Syrian government after a recent deadly chemical attack that killed hundreds of civilians.

During the meeting, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby agreed with a number of League's representatives on the importance of taking a clear decision concerning a number of issues, most notably a clear Arab condemnation of the use of chemical weapons (which are prohibited internationally) by the Syrian regime in Eastern Ghouta.

The Arab delegates fully blamed the Syrian regime on the outcome of such crimes which fall under international law and the international court crimes.
The representatives urged the United Nations to provide necessary support and protection of the Syrian people, noting to the importance of a Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in Syria.

They also underlined the importance of adopting a practical mechanism to oversee the implementation of such a resolution for international human rights organizations to work more effectively in providing aid to the devastated areas.

The meeting called for the need to bring all those involved in such "heinous crimes, as a result of the use of chemical weapons to international justice and to support the Syrian people's right to self-determination," stressing the need for Arab support to any international military action against the Syrian regime.

The Arab League chief went on to review recent efforts on the Syrian crisis and the outcome of his own efforts with regional and international players in the crisis.

He said he had proposed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to launch an initiative which has a humanitarian nature on August 22 regarding Syria, and had called on the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution for a ceasefire in Syria.

The adoption of a practical mechanism to support humanitarian organizations and to provide the most suitable atmosphere for Geneva II talks on Syria, were also stressed by Al-Araby.

Later, he delved into the legal aspects on the use of chemical weapons in international conventions, which criminalize the use of these internationally-banned weapons, stressing that the use of such weapons in Syria makes it imperative for the Security Council, the General Assembly and the International Criminal Court to make moves to take necessary measures on the breaches. (end) mab.mb KUNA 272120 Aug 13NNNN

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I hope that they think of the fact that if they hit that stock pile of chemical weapons, with the nieghboring countrys  with in 40  miles that the wind could carry the cloud of chemical poison  and kill many inocent lives.