In an echo of the tactics they used to promote U.S. intervention in the Balkans, Iraq and Libya, a familiar clutch of neo-conservatives published a letter Tuesday urging President Barack Obama to go far beyond limited military strikes against Syria in retaliation for its government's alleged use last week of chemical weapons that reportedly killed hundreds of people.
After initially insisting that Syria give United Nations investigators unimpeded access to the site of an alleged nerve gas attack, the administration of President Barack Obama reversed its position on Sunday and tried unsuccessfully to get the U.N. to call off its investigation.
While some kind of U.S. military action against Syria in the coming days appears increasingly inevitable, the debate over the why and how of such an attack has grown white hot here.
President Obama got it right. He was picked by U.S. voters to put the nation's interests first – not those of any ally, any member of Congress, or the media, even if they clamour for him to "do something" yet do not take responsibility for the consequences if things go wrong, as they have for some time in the Middle East.
The United States, Britain and France, three veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, are making a strong push for an "urgent" U.N. investigation of the alleged use of chemical weapons Wednesday in Syria.
Syrian activists claim that government forces have carried out a "poisonous gas" attack in suburbs of the capital, Damascus, leaving hundreds of people dead.
Despite Thursday's announcement that President Barack Obama has decided to provide direct military assistance to Syrian rebels, what precisely the administration has in mind remains unclear.
Despite renewed pressure by hawks in Congress and the media, U.S. President Barack Obama appears determined to avoid sharply escalating U.S. involvement in the ongoing civil war in Syria.
A White House
letter Thursday to Congressional leaders suggesting chemical weapons use by the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has reignited debate about direct U.S. military involvement in the war-torn country.
The beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of readying its chemical weapons against rebel forces, is one of three governments in the militarily-volatile Middle East which has shied away from the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).