U.S. Senate panel agrees on military authorization for Syria

September 4, 2013 - 09:37 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee reached an agreement Tuesday, Sept 3, on a draft authorization for the use of military force in Syria, although it was much narrower than the request made by President Barack Obama.

The decision was not unexpected, as the United States enjoys the status of the global democracy , which is rather peculiar, however.

According to Reuters, among other provisions, the draft sets a 60-day limit on U.S. military action in Syria, with a possibility of a single 30-day extension subject to conditions.

Obama is asking Congress to back his call for limited U.S. strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar al-Assad for his suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians during a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.

The compromise deal reached by Senator Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the panel, and Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican, includes a provision banning any use of U.S. armed forces on the ground in Syria.

The draft document requires Obama to consult with Congress and submit to the Senate and House of Representatives foreign relations panel a strategy for negotiating a political settlement to the Syria conflict, including a review of all forms of assistance to the rebels fighting to oust Assad.

"Together we have pursued a course of action that gives the president the authority he needs to deploy force in response to the Assad regime's criminal use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, while assuring that the authorization is narrow and focused, limited in time, and assures that the Armed Forces of the United States will not be deployed for combat operations in Syria," Menendez said in a statement.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, who with other Congressional leaders met Obama in the Oval Office, said afterward that he would “support the president’s call to action,” an endorsement quickly echoed by the House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, according to The New York Times.

“This is not the time for armchair isolationism,” said Secretary of State John Kerry, who answered questions and defended the administration’s strategy for Syria in nearly four hours of exchanges before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has backed Obama's calls for a retaliatory strike against Syria, however the British parliament voted against endorsing military action. French President Francois Hollande has said his country can go ahead with a strike.

In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, Syrian President Assad blamed France for deciding “to renounce its independence and become a subaltern actor in American politics.”

“If the policies of the French state are hostile to the Syrian people, the state will be their enemy,” Assad said. “There will be repercussions, negative ones obviously, on French interests.”

Assad described the Middle East as a “powder keg” and predicated a Western attack on Syria could push the entire Middle East into chaos.

“We shouldn’t just talk about a Syrian response, but what will happen after the first strike,” he said. “Everybody will lose control of the situation when the powder keg blows. There is a risk of a regional war.”

Meanwhile, in the U.S. President decides to bomb Syria, he will do so, marring his image as a peace negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It’s not a secret that the entire Arab world accuses the U.S. in pro-Israeli policy pressured by the powerful Jewish lobby. It can be true, in a way. Israel seems no to comprehend that now it will have to resist not an army but terror groups, which will transform the Middle East in utter chaos, should Syria be bombed.