Britain To Wait On Weapons Report Ahead Of Syria Strikes - NYT

[WillyT]

Britain to Wait on Weapons Report Ahead of Syria Strikes
By STEPHEN CASTLE, ALAN COWELL and RICK GLADSTONE - NYT
Published: August 28, 2013

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LONDON — The prospect of an imminent Western military strike on Syrian government targets appeared to encounter a delay on Wednesday when Britain signaled it would first await the findings of a United Nations inquiry into the suspected use of chemical weapons in a mass killing near Damascus, and would then hold a parliamentary vote, which could be days away.

At the same time the Syrian government, which has denied accusations by a range of Western and Arab countries that it had used the weapons in the Aug. 21 mass killing, moved abruptly to prolong the visit of the United Nations inspectors, announcing it had evidence of three previously unreported chemical weapons assaults that they should investigate.

Taken together, the developments had the effect of slowing, for the moment, the momentum for military action led by the United States and Britain. Both have said the evidence is already persuasive that the government President Bashar al-Assad of Syria used chemical munitions on civilians in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta last week, committing what the Obama administration has called a moral atrocity that cannot go unanswered.

While the United States could still act unilaterally, the Obama administration has actively sought to build a consensus for a military strike, and Britain is the closest American ally.

The British signal that it would not rush to military action came late Wednesday when the government of Prime Minister David Cameron, aware of the sensitivities created by the rush to war in Iraq a decade ago, altered the language of a motion to be voted on by Parliament on Thursday so that a separate vote on military action would be required. That vote may not take place until next week.

The resolution states...

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More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/29/world/middleeast/syria.html

[RobertEarl]

1. Bloody well, then.

Of course the "Shoot first, ask questions later" people will be calling Britain a bunch of pansy peace purists.

[David__77]

2. And Obama today said he was unsure about his "shot across the bow."

He did everything he could to verbally minimize the implications of any US attack against Syria, as if it is merely a symbolic slap on the wrist with no real world consequence. Who does he think he is fooling? Who is he trying to fool? Or is this a walking back process?