and a viewpoint from China

Commentary: U.S. can't justify potential Syria strike

http://english.cntv.cn/special

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- As Washington hastily beats the war drums to prepare an attack on Syria, which could take place any time soon, key rationales remain missing to justify the action.

For starters, the UN inspection team has yet reached a conclusion on the alleged use of chemical weapons, although Washington already pinned the blame on the Syrian government without coming up with any hard facts to support its claim.

Before the UN findings were read out, any U.S.-led military action will not have the backing of the UN Security Council.

The world's commonsense is that it's the UN, not Washington, should play the leading role in marshalling an international response to the Syria crisis, because the most representative world body is the best platform to make the most objective analysis and take the most appropriate action.

Bypassing the UN to attack a sovereign state not only runs counter to international norms, but also tends to create chronic chaos as a unilateral move often comes with no permanent solution to the problem.

But history shows that Washington oftens opts to go ahead to attack a sovereign state despite a lack of UN mandate or sound proof. The Iraq war was case in point.

Here thus comes the second question: what is Washington trying to achieve with the military strike? It seems that the U.S. administration does not have a clear objective.

To topple Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad? Apparently, Washington has given "no" for the answer.