Obama: We should strike

Taking a huge political gamble, US President Barack Obama on Saturday asked Congress to authorize military action against Syria, in a move which lifted the threat of immediate strikes on President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Obama said he had decided a chemical weapons attack on a Syrian suburb that killed more than 1,400 people was so heinous that he would respond with a limited US military strike.
But, in a move that could reshape the balance of power between Capitol Hill and the presidency, he said he believed it was important to secure support from Congress to wage war.
“I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people’s representatives in Congress,” Obama said.
Obama will be relatively confident of winning a vote in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats and includes a number of Republicans, like Sen. John McCain, who have argued for military action against Syria.
But it would be hazardous to predict how the vote will go in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which contains conservatives who revile the president and have obstructed his agenda across the board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday dismissed as “nonsense” claims that the Syria regime has used chemical weapons and demanded that the United States provide proof.
Putin rejected communications intercepts as evidence, saying that they cannot be used to take “fundamental decisions” like using military force on Syria. “Common sense speaks for itself,” he said.
Fully assessing the evidence collected by weapons inspectors could take up to three weeks, the organization in charge of the investigation said on Saturday. The evidence collected by the team will now undergo laboratory analysis and technical evaluation according to the established and recognized procedures and standards. “These procedures may take up to three weeks,” it said.
Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo Sunday to discuss Syria.
French President Francois Hollande reaffirmed to Obama in a telephone call on Saturday his will to sanction Syria, a source close to Hollande told Reuters.
“Each country’s pace of action must above all be respected. It’s important for the Americans to have the green light from Congress.”