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Boehner says he will back Obama's call for military action in Syria - Washington Post

Posted: 03 Sep 2013 08:48 AM PDT

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House expressed strong support Tuesday for a U.S. military strike against Syria, offering crucial congressional backing for President Obama's request for authorization to use force to respond to what they and the administration say was a devastation chemical weapons attack last month.

Speaking to reporters after a White House meeting with Obama and other top congressional leaders, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said, "I'm going to support the president's call for action; I believe my colleagues should support this call for action."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also expressed support for a strike against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying he had acted far outside the norms of civilized behavior by launching an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,400 people, including hundreds of children, on the outskirts of Damascus.

"The United States for our entire history has stood up for democracy and freedom around the world," Boehner said after the White House meeting. "These weapons have to be responded to. Only the United States has the capacity and the capability to stop Assad or warn others around the world that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. I appreciate the president reaching out to me and my colleagues in Congress over the past few weeks."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he also intends "to vote to provide the president of the United States the option to use military force in Syria."

Boehner spoke after Obama said at the start of the meeting that he was "confident" he could assuage the concerns of congressional leaders about a U.S. military strike. He also expressed willingness to revise a resolution authorizing the use of force as long as his goals are met.

Opening the meeting with top lawmakers of both parties from the House and Senate, Obama said his plan to launch airstrikes against Assad's forces "fits into a broader strategy" of strengthening the Syrian opposition and ultimately driving Assad from power.

Seated at a table in the Cabinet Room between Boehner and Pelosi, Obama stressed that the military plan developed by the Pentagon is "proportional, it is limited, it does not involve boots on the ground." He added: "This is not Iraq, and this is not Afghanistan."

The proposed strike "gives us the ability to degrade Assad's capabilities when it comes to chemical weapons" now and in the future, he said.

"At the same time, we have a broader strategy that will allow us to upgrade the capabilities of the opposition, allow Syria ultimately to free itself" from the death and destruction of its gruesome civil war, Obama said.

Obama made the remarks as his administration stepped up a campaign to secure congressional backing for a military strike against Syria.

Pelosi told reporters after the meeting: "I believe the American people need to hear more about the intelligence that supports this action. And that is the responsibility for this chemical weapons use is clearly at the feet of Assad." She said the attack went beyond civilized human behavior, "and we must respond."

Syria crisis has created 2 million refugees, UN says - CBS News

Posted: 03 Sep 2013 08:04 AM PDT

GENEVA The civil war in Syria has forced over 2 million people out of the country and over 4 million others are displaced within its borders, making Syria the nation with the largest number of people torn from their homes right now, U.N. officials said Tuesday.

If the conflict continues 3.5 million Syrian refugees are expected by the end of the year, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.

"At this particular moment it's the highest number of displaced people anywhere in the world," he told reporters in Geneva. "Syria has become the great tragedy of this century — a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history."

Almost 5,000 citizens a day on average are flowing out of Syria — a country of some 23 million people — many of them with little more than the clothes they are wearing, Guterres said. The number of refugees has surged by 1.8 million in just 12 months — up from almost 231,000 a year ago.

"What is appalling is that the first million fled Syria during two years. The second million fled Syria in (the past) six months," he said of the impact of the civil war, which began as a rebellion against President Bashar Assad's regime in March 2011. "We have now almost one-third of the Syria population that has been displaced, and half in need of assistance."

16 Photos

Syrian refugees with a double-curse

More than 97 per cent of Syria's refugees are hosted by countries in the immediate surrounding region, which is impacting their infrastructures, economies and societies and making them in need of urgent outside help, Guterres said.

"So there are no words to express the dimension of this tragedy," he said. "The only solace is the humanity shown by the neighboring countries in welcoming and saving the lives of so many refugees."

As of the end of August, the agency counted 716,000 refugees in Lebanon, 515,000 in Jordan, 460,000 in Turkey, 168,000 in Iraq and 110,000 in Egypt. It said

"Even after they have crossed a border to safety, they are traumatized, depressed and in need of a reason for hope," he said.

The threats to refugee children are rising, the agencies say, including child labor, early marriage and the potential for sexual exploitation and trafficking. More than 3,500 children in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq have crossed Syria's borders unaccompanied or separated from their families, according to the U.N. figures.

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Desperate measures: Syrian refugees sell daughters into marriage

In May, CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward traveled to a refugee camp in Jordan where Syrian parents were selling their daughters into marriage with wealthy Arab men in a desperate bid to survive.

Ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey were planning to meet with Guterres on Wednesday in Geneva in an effort to gain greater international support.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate at this rate," said the U.N. special envoy for refugees, actress Angelina Jolie, "the number of refugees will only grow, and some neighboring countries could be brought to the point of collapse."

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Selasa, 3 September 2013