THE United Nations (UN) estimates that more than 70,000 people have died since the Syrian government started battling a rebellion two years ago.
The international community has condemned the Assad regime for the violence it has perpetrated against its own people. Pleas for greater international assistance have been mounting, especially from the United States — the big brother and defender of human rights and democracy.
A report from CNN revealed a letter sent to lawmakers by the White House: “intelligence analysts have concluded with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin…we do believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would very likely have originated with the Assad regime.”
The Obama administration said that it is working to gather more information on the reports and is calling for a full-scale investigation by the UN into what may have happened.
“Given the stakes involved, and what we have learned from our own recent experience, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient — only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision-making,” CNN quotes from the letter.
Republicans have criticized Pres. Obama for not intervening in order to avoid more blood shed in Syria.
Following the announcement by the White House, lawmakers from both aisles said the United States should act now.
“We should have intervened a long time ago, whether Bashar al-Assad was using them or not, Sen. John McCain said.
“The president of the United States said that if Bashar Assad used chemical weapons that it would be a game changer, that it would cross a red line,” the Arizona senator said. “I think it is pretty obvious that red line has been crossed.”
CNN reported on different proposals offered by other lawmakers for what the next steps should be.
“It is clear that ‘red lines’ have been crossed and action must be taken to prevent larger-scale use,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) said in a statement.
“Syria has the ability to kill tens of thousands with its chemical weapons,” Feinstein stated. “The world must come together to prevent this by unified action which results in the secure containment of Syria’s significant stockpile of chemical weapons.”
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York) said the US government — which currently supplies “nonlethal aid” to Syrian rebels — must start “to immediately arm vetted elements of the Syrian opposition.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) urged the administration to work for the establishment of a safe zone for Syrian rebels.
“Everything that the non-interventionists said would happen in Syria if we intervened, has happened,” he said.
“The jihadists are on the ascendency, there is chemical weapons being used, the massacres continue.”
Al Jazeera News reported that the UN spokesman said that investigators from the world body have started collecting evidence outside Syria on the suspected use of chemical weapons.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on April 26 with a new request for access to investigators inside the war-torn country.
Al Jazeera further reported that last month, both the Syrian government and rebels accused each other of using chemical weapons in an attack on the village of Khan al-Assal, outside the northern city of Aleppo.
After the incident, the Assad administration called the UN to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons by rebels.
But as Al Jazeera reported, Syria still has not allowed a team of experts into the country because it wants the investigation to be limited to the single Khan al-Assal incident.
The UN chief is urging the Syrian government to accept an expanded probe.
“Horrific as it is when mortars are being fired on civilians and people are being indiscriminately killed, to use potential weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law,” Obama said at the White House as he began talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah last Friday.
“That is going to be a game changer,” he said.
CNN reported that Obama stopped short of declaring that Assad had crossed “a red line” and described the US intelligence evaluations as “a preliminary assessment”.
Meanwhile, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that the increasing evidence of chemical weapon use was unlikely to prompt a Western military intervention.
“It’s limited evidence but there’s growing evidence that we have seen too of the use of chemical weapons, probably by the regime,” Cameron said.
CNN reported that US officials said the evaluation that Syria probably used chemical weapons was based in part on “physiological” samples. But where exactly they came from or who supplied the material, however, have not yet been divulged.
In a statement, the White House said Pres. Obama and Russia Pres. Validimir Putin talked on the phone last Monday, and Obama underscored his concern over Syrian chemical weapons.
The US government has repeatedly criticized Russia and China for blocking tougher action and new sanctions against Syria in the UN Security Council.
BBC reported that Pres. Putin and Pres. Obama are scheduled to hold a face-to-face talks in June.
White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the evidence so far of Syrian chemical weapons use was not an “airtight case” and declined to set a deadline for corroborating reports.
Meantime, Pres. Obama promised a “vigorous investigation” into the issue.
What do you think? Do you agree with Sen. John McCain that the United States should now intervene militarily? Are you ready for America to be in another war, in order to help save innocent Syrian civilians?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
