Obama’s Administration Bids its Time on Syria’s Chemical Weapons

Nidal Hamadeh - Paris

Despite the freshly-sparked media din over the usage of chemical weapons in Syria and the French, British, and "Israeli" accusations of the Syrian government of having used chemicals twice, the US administration seems careful in dealing with this issue, especially that Senator John McCain has called Obama for a military intervention under this very pretense.
Obama's administration is very wary regarding this dossier. The US President has even said that the usage of chemical weapons is considered a red line and will beget radical change in the equation. But the US has also confirmed that it had no intention to intervene in Syria.
US Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, hinted that the US was not willing to be dragged into calls for military intervention in Syria. "The US Intelligence services have misestimated previously in the case of mass destruction weapons in Iraq, which requires a lot of accuracy and patience with respect to news on usage of chemical weapons in Syria," he said in a statement from Abu Dhabi last week.

It is also exaggerated to say that the French-British-"Israeli" position from Syrian chemicals is pressuring Obama's administration to wage a war on Syria or to establish an air umbrella over border zone between Syria and Turkey in the north or a buffer zone, like what happened in Iraq. In fact, these efforts are faced by a US rejection, according to the French newspaper, Le Monde, which quoted US administration sources as saying that military intervention in Syria is farfetched due to Russia's utter refusal, in addition to the US interests which are as yet unscathed.

On the other hand, the issue of Takfiri "al-Nusra" Front is overweighing that of military intervention in Syria especially that the White House officials are still unable to manage the crisis. They cannot tell the course and results of the war if it ever starts; especially that Iran has interfered, according to French sources explaining the US position.

It seems that the American mobilization on Syria's chemical weapons is still confined within media, while the US administration is now working on expounding its future policies on Syria to its Turkish and Arab allies, who are flocking to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama. The latter, for his part, is informing the allies of the US policy's guidelines on Syria. Within this frame, Obama has met with Jordan's Abdullah II, and the Prince of Qatar. He will be also meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince and Qatari Prime Minister, who are scheduled to visit Washington, separately, next week.

Source: al-Ahed news, translated and edited by moqawama.org