Britain to present resolution on Syria to the U.N. Security Council
Britain will present a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday "authorizing necessary measures to protect civilians" in Syria and condemning alleged chemical weapons attacks. The resolution will seek a chapter seven mandate, which would allow for the use of force. Russia and China have already vetoed resolutions on Syria at the Security Council and are expected to block any text that would approve military action. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States that a U.S.-led military intervention "will lead to the long-term destabilization of the situation in the country and the region." The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry reported it evacuated 75 Russian citizens from Syria on Tuesday, with more evacuations expected Wednesday. Iran also cautioned against a U.S.-led strike saying it would be "a disaster for the region." The Arab League blamed Assad for the attacks and called for the Security Council to agree on "deterrent" measures. However, it failed to endorse a military strike. On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the U.S. military has "moved assets in place to be able to fulfill and comply with whatever the president wishes to take." Meanwhile, U.N. inspectors are continuing their investigation Wednesday into the alleged chemical weapons attacks in the eastern Damascus suburb of Zamalka after postponing Tuesday's site visits over security concerns. The United States is conducting its own assessment of the attacks, and the U.S. administration may release as soon as Thursday a report that it says would prove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the use of chemical weapons. According to the administration, U.S. intelligence shows how Syrian forces stored, assembled, and launched chemical weapons in the attacks on August 21.
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For U.S., Syria is truly a problem from hell
Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a director at the New America Foundation and the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad."
"Despite graphic media coverage, American policymakers, journalists and citizens are extremely slow to muster the imagination needed to reckon with evil. Ahead of the killings, they assume rational actors will not inflict seemingly gratuitous violence. They trust in good-faith negotiations and traditional diplomacy. Once the killings start, they assume that civilians who keep their head down will be left alone. They urge cease-fires and donate humanitarian aid."
This is an almost perfect description of how the United States has acted over the past two years as it has tried to come up with some kind of policy to end the Assad regime's brutal war on its own people in Syria.
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