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| Officials press lawmakers to approve Syria strike; Obama invokes Congress's ... - Washington Post Posted: 04 Sep 2013 08:40 AM PDT Top administration officials pressed their case Wednesday for congressional approval of a U.S. military strike on Syria, as lawmakers readied a more limited authorization than originally proposed and President Obama said the credibility of Congress and the international community is also at stake. After classified, closed-doors hearings Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were scheduled to debate a new draft of a resolution on the use of force in Syria in response to a reported chemical weapons attack last month that killed more than 1,400 people. The resolution would permit up to 90 days of military action against the Syrian government and bar the deployment of U.S. combat troops in Syria, while permitting the deployment of a small rescue mission in the event of an emergency, according to a copy of the resolution obtained late Tuesday from Senate aides. The White House also would be required within 30 days of enactment of the resolution to send lawmakers a plan for a diplomatic solution to end the violence in Syria. In a news conference in Stockholm, the first leg of a trip that will take him to Russia for a Group of 20 summit, Obama made the case for a U.S. strike on Syria "limited in time and in scope" to degrade the military capabilities of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and deter him from resorting to chemical weapons again in his 2 1/2-year war with rebels. "I didn't set a red line," Obama said in response to a question. "The world set a red line" when it declared chemical weapons "abhorrent" and passed a treaty forbidding them. "Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty." Obama added: "My credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line. And America and Congress's credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important." Appearing before reporters with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Obama said: "I do think that we have to act. Because if we don't, we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on, somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity. And those international norms begin to erode. And other despots and authoritarian regimes can . . . say, that's something we can get away with. And that then calls into question other international norms and laws of war, and whether those are going to be enforced." Asked by a Swedish reporter about "the moral force of nonviolence" and the dilemma of being a Nobel Peace Prize laureate while preparing to attack Syria, Obama reiterated that he was "certainly unworthy" of the prize compared to previous recipients and asked "what are our responsibilities" in confronting a world "full of violence and occasional evil." He argued that when 1,400 innocent civilians, including 400 children, are gassed to death in a war that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives, "the moral thing to do is not to stand by and do nothing." |
| Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown - Philly.com Posted: 04 Sep 2013 07:25 AM PDT Rosh Hashanah, known as the Jewish New Year, begins tonight, marking the start of Judaism's most sacred period. Although it is known as a New Year celebration, Rosh Hashanah should not to be confused with the frivolity of the secular styled celebration marked each year on Jan. 1. Rather, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the 10-day period known as the Days of Awe that ends on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. Together, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as High Holy Days. Jews view the time as one of reflection and as a period to make amends. Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year" and is celebrated on the first day of Tishrei - the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar. It can fall anywhere from September to October. The holiday starts at sundown today (7:24 p.m.) and will mark the 5,774 year in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur falls on Sept. 14. The celebration is based on a passage in Leviticus, which calls for it to be marked by the blasts of horns. As a result, a shofar, or ram's horn, is traditionally sounded in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah. Work is prohibited on the holiday. |
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