FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Kerry: World Watching as Congress Debates Syria Strikes
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2013 - The entire world is watching to see what the United States will do about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, and how America responds will make a difference, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told a Senate panel today.
Kerry, along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, making the case for Congress to authorize the use of force against the regime of Bashar Assad.
"We're here because against multiple warnings from the president of the United States, from the Congress, from our friends and allies around the world, and even from Russia and Iran, the Assad regime -- and only, undeniably, the Assad regime -- unleashed an outrageous chemical attack against its own citizens," Kerry said. "We're here because a dictator and his family's personal enterprise, in their lust to hold onto power, were willing to infect the air of Damascus with a poison that killed innocent mothers and fathers and hundreds of their children, their lives all snuffed out by gas in the early morning of Aug. 21."
There is no doubt that the Assad regime killed these people, the secretary of state added.
Kerry said he wants to avoid a comparison to the early days of the resolution that led to the Iraq War. The administration has "scrubbed and rescrubbed" the evidence, and "we can tell you beyond any reasonable doubt that our evidence proves the Assad regime prepared for this attack, issued instruction to prepare for this attack, [and] warned its own forces to use gas masks," Kerry said.
Kerry stressed that the debate isn't about a red line drawn by President Barack Obama, but a red line the world has drawn. "It's about humanity's red line," Kerry said. "And it's a red line that anyone with a conscience ought to draw."
The humanitarian considerations are important, but there are strategic national security interests at stake as well, Kerry said. The United States needs "to avoid the creation of a safe haven in Syria or a base of operations for extremists to use these weapons against our friends," said he explained. Extremists on both sides could lay their hands on chemical weapons in Syria and use them outside the nation, he said.
"If nothing happens to begin to change the equation or the current calculation, that area can become even more so an area of ungoverned space where those extremists threaten even the United States and, more immediately, if they get their hands on those weapons, allies and friends of ours like Jordan, or Israel, or Lebanon, or others," Kerry said.
Syria would regard America stepping away from a response as an invitation to use chemical weapons with impunity, Kerry told the Senate panel. "In creating impunity, we will be creating opportunity, the opportunity for other dictators and/or terrorists to pursue their own weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons," he added.
Iran, North Korea and Hezbollah all want the United States to step away, Kerry said. "Our inaction would surely give them a permission slip for them to at least misinterpret our intention, if not to put it to the test," he said. "Hezbollah is hoping that isolationism will prevail. North Korea is hoping that ambivalence carries the day. They are all listening for our silence."
Allies in the region – Jordan, Israel and Turkey – "look next door and see they are one stiff breeze away from the potential of being hurt, of their civilians being killed, as a consequence of choices Assad might take in the absence of action," Kerry said.
There are limits to the resolution, the secretary of state emphasized, noting that Obama has said there will be no American boots on the ground.
"We have no intention of assuming responsibility for Syria's civil war," he said. "[The president] is asking only for the power to make clear, to make certain, that the United States means what we say, [and] that the world, when we join together in a multilateral statement, means what we say."
Showing posts with label CHEMICAL WEAPONS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CHEMICAL WEAPONS. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
YJR 2013 AUSTRAILIA GROUP PLEANARY
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Press Release From the Chair of the 2013 Australia Group Plenary
Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation
June 7, 2013
The mounting evidence of use of chemical weapons in Syria underscores the special importance of the Australia Group, which today concluded its annual Plenary, chaired by Australia and hosted in Paris by the French Government. The Australia Group is a cooperative and voluntary group of countries seeking to counter the spread of technologies and materials that may facilitate the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons by states and terrorists.
Following its press statement of 28 January 2013, expressing concern about developments in Syria, the Group reaffirmed its view that chemical weapons in Syria continue to pose a serious threat of further destabilising the Middle East and a challenge to global non-proliferation norms. Australia Group members are gravely concerned by the growing body of evidence pointing to the use of chemical weapons and by the danger of more and larger-scale use. The threat of chemical weapon use on the people of Syria underlines the necessity for the complete eradication of chemical weapons for all time and for the universalisation of the CWC.
The Australia Group underlined that the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances is unacceptable and against the legal norms of the international community. The Group urged support for the UN mission to investigate all allegations of chemical weapon use in Syria.
The Australia Group Plenary urged all parties to the Syrian conflict to renounce chemical weapons and their use in any circumstances, and to take steps to eliminate all stocks of those weapons. In the meantime Syria must assure the international community about the security of its chemical weapons stockpiles.
Building on its appeal at the 2012 Plenary, Australia Group participants emphasised the need for all countries to exercise increased vigilance with regard to dual-use exports to Syria of items potentially relevant to chemical and biological weapons, and to subject such exports to Syria to particular scrutiny.
In the course of the meeting, participating experts continued their review of lists of chemical and biological items which are to be subject to export control. Updated lists as well as the Australia Group guidelines are available at www.australiagroup.net. Participants noted the Group’s control lists were being increasingly used as the benchmark for global best practice controls on sensitive dual-use chemical and biological materials, equipment and related intangible technologies.
The 2013 meeting also allowed licensing and enforcement experts to share experience and information to prevent attempts to proliferate sensitive dual-use chemicals, biological materials and related equipment. At the same time, Australia Group participants affirmed their commitment to ensuring that their export controls did not hinder legitimate trade and technical cooperation in the chemical and biological sectors.
The Group continued its process of review of the proliferation risk associated with new and emerging technologies, with a view to identifying materials and equipment which might warrant inclusion at some future date in national export control lists. A major focus was developments in chemical agents, as well as recent advances in the life sciences and nanotechnology, and developments in dual-use chemical and biological production equipment.
Australia Group participants agreed to deepen cooperation through greater information sharing on approaches to visa vetting, experience in the implementation of catch-all provisions and other measures to further enhance the effectiveness of the Group.
Participants also reiterated their commitment to engaging industry and academic sectors in support of the Group’s work, including raising awareness of controls on proliferation sensitive transfers of intangible technology and brokering services.
Consideration was given to potential new members that have formally expressed interest in joining the Australia Group.
The Australia Group agreed to continue an active program of international outreach and engagement in 2013-14, with a view to the wider adoption of AG control lists and practices, to further enhance efforts to prevent the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons.
Press Release From the Chair of the 2013 Australia Group Plenary
Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation
June 7, 2013
The mounting evidence of use of chemical weapons in Syria underscores the special importance of the Australia Group, which today concluded its annual Plenary, chaired by Australia and hosted in Paris by the French Government. The Australia Group is a cooperative and voluntary group of countries seeking to counter the spread of technologies and materials that may facilitate the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons by states and terrorists.
Following its press statement of 28 January 2013, expressing concern about developments in Syria, the Group reaffirmed its view that chemical weapons in Syria continue to pose a serious threat of further destabilising the Middle East and a challenge to global non-proliferation norms. Australia Group members are gravely concerned by the growing body of evidence pointing to the use of chemical weapons and by the danger of more and larger-scale use. The threat of chemical weapon use on the people of Syria underlines the necessity for the complete eradication of chemical weapons for all time and for the universalisation of the CWC.
The Australia Group underlined that the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances is unacceptable and against the legal norms of the international community. The Group urged support for the UN mission to investigate all allegations of chemical weapon use in Syria.
The Australia Group Plenary urged all parties to the Syrian conflict to renounce chemical weapons and their use in any circumstances, and to take steps to eliminate all stocks of those weapons. In the meantime Syria must assure the international community about the security of its chemical weapons stockpiles.
Building on its appeal at the 2012 Plenary, Australia Group participants emphasised the need for all countries to exercise increased vigilance with regard to dual-use exports to Syria of items potentially relevant to chemical and biological weapons, and to subject such exports to Syria to particular scrutiny.
In the course of the meeting, participating experts continued their review of lists of chemical and biological items which are to be subject to export control. Updated lists as well as the Australia Group guidelines are available at www.australiagroup.net. Participants noted the Group’s control lists were being increasingly used as the benchmark for global best practice controls on sensitive dual-use chemical and biological materials, equipment and related intangible technologies.
The 2013 meeting also allowed licensing and enforcement experts to share experience and information to prevent attempts to proliferate sensitive dual-use chemicals, biological materials and related equipment. At the same time, Australia Group participants affirmed their commitment to ensuring that their export controls did not hinder legitimate trade and technical cooperation in the chemical and biological sectors.
The Group continued its process of review of the proliferation risk associated with new and emerging technologies, with a view to identifying materials and equipment which might warrant inclusion at some future date in national export control lists. A major focus was developments in chemical agents, as well as recent advances in the life sciences and nanotechnology, and developments in dual-use chemical and biological production equipment.
Australia Group participants agreed to deepen cooperation through greater information sharing on approaches to visa vetting, experience in the implementation of catch-all provisions and other measures to further enhance the effectiveness of the Group.
Participants also reiterated their commitment to engaging industry and academic sectors in support of the Group’s work, including raising awareness of controls on proliferation sensitive transfers of intangible technology and brokering services.
Consideration was given to potential new members that have formally expressed interest in joining the Australia Group.
The Australia Group agreed to continue an active program of international outreach and engagement in 2013-14, with a view to the wider adoption of AG control lists and practices, to further enhance efforts to prevent the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS SAYS OPTIONS PROVIDED TO PRESEIDENT REGARDING SYRIA
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Dempsey: Military Provides Options to President on Syria
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2013 - The U.S. military stands ready to do whatever it is ordered to in Syria by civilian leaders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor news roundtable that nothing he has heard out of Syria in the past week changes the mission for U.S. military leaders.
"We've been planning, we're talking about the options, and we're looking to determine if these options are still valid or if anything has changed," Dempsey said. "That doesn't mean that anything we've heard over the past week wouldn't change the policy calculus."
Militarily, the U.S. task is to continue to engage partners in the region and "to continue to define options so that if we are asked to implement any, we will be ready," the nation's top military officer said.
Evidence indicates that the Syrian regime has used sarin, a deadly nerve agent, White House officials said last week. President Barack Obama said that use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer."
"The reason for that is that we have established international law and international norms that say when you use these kinds of weapons, you have the potential of killing massive numbers of people in the most inhumane way possible," the president said during a White House news conference this morning. "The proliferation risks are so significant that we don't want that genie out of the box."
But while physiological evidence indicates that chemical weapons were used in the country, that evidence is not concrete, the president said. "We don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them," Obama said. "We don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened.
"And when I am making decisions about America's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapon use, I have got to make sure I've got the facts," he continued.
One option advanced by advocates of action in Syria is establishing a no-fly zone over at least part of the country. The persistent argument is that NATO flights over Libya were decisive in overthrowing Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
But Syria is far different from Libya, Dempsey said. It has five times the air defense capability Libya had, with most of it concentrated in the western third of the country. Dempsey called the Syrian air defense "high-end."
"I'm not saying we couldn't beat that system, but it would be a greater challenge, take longer and require greater resources," he said.
Without going into specifics, Dempsey spoke about setting up a no-fly zone. "Any military operation tends to be a little more complicated," he said. "They tend to be more risky."
To an extent, the chairman said, the American military may be a victim of its own success. U.S. air power set up and maintained a no-fly zone over northern and southern Iraq for a decade. NATO maintained a no-fly zone over parts of Serbia and Kosovo in the 1990s, and NATO and coalition nations enforced a no-fly zone over Libya. "They made the very difficult look very manageable for a long time," Dempsey said.
A no-fly zone has to have several elements to succeed, the chairman said. "Although stealth technology exists, to have a no-fly zone, you can't just simply penetrate," he said. "You have to control, which means at some level you have to degrade the integrated air defense system."
Secondly, he said, any time the United States puts an aircraft over a dangerous area, there has to be a way to retrieve the pilot or crew in case they are shot down or forced down in hostile territory. "There has to be a search-and-rescue or a personnel recovery plan," the chairman said.
Another factor, Dempsey told the reporters, is what might happen outside a no-fly zone.
"I have to assume that the potential adversary is not going to just sit back and let us impose our will," he said. "They could in fact, take exception to the fact that we are imposing a no-fly zone, and outside their borders launch long-range rockets and missiles and asymmetric threats. So regionally in the area that bounds the no-fly zone, you'd better have your readiness condition up."
Dempsey: Military Provides Options to President on Syria
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2013 - The U.S. military stands ready to do whatever it is ordered to in Syria by civilian leaders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor news roundtable that nothing he has heard out of Syria in the past week changes the mission for U.S. military leaders.
"We've been planning, we're talking about the options, and we're looking to determine if these options are still valid or if anything has changed," Dempsey said. "That doesn't mean that anything we've heard over the past week wouldn't change the policy calculus."
Militarily, the U.S. task is to continue to engage partners in the region and "to continue to define options so that if we are asked to implement any, we will be ready," the nation's top military officer said.
Evidence indicates that the Syrian regime has used sarin, a deadly nerve agent, White House officials said last week. President Barack Obama said that use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer."
"The reason for that is that we have established international law and international norms that say when you use these kinds of weapons, you have the potential of killing massive numbers of people in the most inhumane way possible," the president said during a White House news conference this morning. "The proliferation risks are so significant that we don't want that genie out of the box."
But while physiological evidence indicates that chemical weapons were used in the country, that evidence is not concrete, the president said. "We don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them," Obama said. "We don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened.
"And when I am making decisions about America's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapon use, I have got to make sure I've got the facts," he continued.
One option advanced by advocates of action in Syria is establishing a no-fly zone over at least part of the country. The persistent argument is that NATO flights over Libya were decisive in overthrowing Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
But Syria is far different from Libya, Dempsey said. It has five times the air defense capability Libya had, with most of it concentrated in the western third of the country. Dempsey called the Syrian air defense "high-end."
"I'm not saying we couldn't beat that system, but it would be a greater challenge, take longer and require greater resources," he said.
Without going into specifics, Dempsey spoke about setting up a no-fly zone. "Any military operation tends to be a little more complicated," he said. "They tend to be more risky."
To an extent, the chairman said, the American military may be a victim of its own success. U.S. air power set up and maintained a no-fly zone over northern and southern Iraq for a decade. NATO maintained a no-fly zone over parts of Serbia and Kosovo in the 1990s, and NATO and coalition nations enforced a no-fly zone over Libya. "They made the very difficult look very manageable for a long time," Dempsey said.
A no-fly zone has to have several elements to succeed, the chairman said. "Although stealth technology exists, to have a no-fly zone, you can't just simply penetrate," he said. "You have to control, which means at some level you have to degrade the integrated air defense system."
Secondly, he said, any time the United States puts an aircraft over a dangerous area, there has to be a way to retrieve the pilot or crew in case they are shot down or forced down in hostile territory. "There has to be a search-and-rescue or a personnel recovery plan," the chairman said.
Another factor, Dempsey told the reporters, is what might happen outside a no-fly zone.
"I have to assume that the potential adversary is not going to just sit back and let us impose our will," he said. "They could in fact, take exception to the fact that we are imposing a no-fly zone, and outside their borders launch long-range rockets and missiles and asymmetric threats. So regionally in the area that bounds the no-fly zone, you'd better have your readiness condition up."
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