Obama to seek Congress vote on Syria military action
US President Barack Obama says he is to seek Congressional authorisation for military operations against Syria. ● Mr Obama said the US should take action in Syria, but it was important to have a debate and vote in Congress, which reconvenes on 9 September. The US says its intelligence reports indicate the Syrian government carried out chemical weapons attacks on 21 August in which 1,429 people died. The Syrian government denies it was behind the attacks and blames rebels. UN inspectors have now left Syria with samples from site visits, which will go to laboratories in Europe for testing. Mr Obama said the operation would be limited in duration and strong to deter future chemical attacks. He said the military operation could happen tomorrow, next week or in the near future.
Finian Cunningham: US revealed as enemy of the world - The United States of America stands exposed in the eyes of the entire world as the number-one terrorist threat to the future of humanity. Many have known this fact already, but now it is universally clear. ■ As the US prepares to launch an overt war on Syria (the covert war has been raging for 30 months), the vast majority of humanity can finally see through all its decades of pretense and conceit as the world’s model of democracy and international law. And what they see is the ugly opposite. The US is a terrorist state that holds international law, democracy and human rights in utter contempt. It is ready, as it always has been, to kill countless civilians for its selfish political ambitions. That is the conventional definition of “terrorism”. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad made a profound point recently when he said that his country has faced aggression for more than two years, but only now is the real enemy revealing itself - the US and its minions. But the US terrorist state is not just being called out over Syria. It is being revealed as the enemy to the entire world.
The Guardian: Obama to seek authorisation from Congress before Syria air strikes
USA Today: Obama seeks military action in Syria
CNN: Obama: US should take military action against Syria
RIA Novosti: Forces Preparing for Possible Strike on Syria - MAP