IMAGE: President Obama and Chuck Hagel prepare their plan B for war following Cameron’s defeat.
21st Century Wire says…
Following David Cameron’s humiliating defeat in the Commons last night over military action in Syria, war hawks in Washington DC have been left to seek a new coalition, and to create ‘a new legal justification’ to declare war on Syria.
According to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, the British defeat makes little difference to the US President:
“When the president reaches a determination about the appropriate response … and a legal justification is required to substantiate or to back up that decision, we’ll produce one on our own”.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, currently in the Philippines, also reiterated the White House’s desire to form an Iraq War-style coalition in order to attack Syria, stating:
“It is the goal of President (Barack) Obama and our government … whatever decision is taken, that it be an international collaboration and effort”.
The US, UK and France are still claiming that they can act with or without a U.N. Security Council resolution, which would likely be vetoed by Russia, a close ally of Assad.
French President Francois Hollande has announced that the British parliamentary defeat against taking military action in Syria will not affect France’s desire to “punish the Bashar al-Assad’s government” for the alleged chemical weapons attack last week.
Italy has already announced it can not join a US-led coalition strike on Syria without the UN Security Council authorization.
The US, UK and France are lobbying other UN security council members in order to leaverage a vote of the 15-member council to ‘isolate Russia in the eyes of the international community’.
Russia has reportedly moved ships into the Mediterranean around Cyprus, but says that this deployment is simply part of their annual rotation of naval assets in the region.
Reuters reports on the US reaction to Cameron’s defeat last night…
Obama makes case for Syria strike, British house votes no
U.S. officials conceded on Thursday they lacked conclusive evidence that Assad personally ordered last week’s poison gas attack, and some allies have warned that military action without U.N. Security Council authorization risks making the situation worse.
President Barack Obama’s top national security officials were due to brief Congress on Syria later on Thursday, but any intervention looked set to be delayed at least until U.N. investigators report back after leaving Syria on Saturday.
The British parliament’s rejection of the largely symbolic motion proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron, which would have given authorization in principle for action subject to a second vote, was a setback for Obama’s efforts to build a coalition for action.
Cameron said afterward he would not override the will of parliament and approve such action, saying it was clear that parliament did not want to see a military strike on Syria to punish it for chemical weapons use and that he would act accordingly.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested before the British vote that the United States might be willing to act on its own.
“When the president reaches a determination about the appropriate response … and a legal justification is required to substantiate or to back up that decision, we’ll produce one on our own,” Earnest said…
READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria Files
