Syria chemical arms plan promising 'if it's real,' Obama says
By Matt Smith and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
updated 7:06 AM EDT, Tue September 10, 2013
(CNN) -- Facing weak support for U.S. military action, President Barack Obama said Monday that a plan to have Syria hand its chemical arsenal over to international control could avert American strikes "if it's real."
"It's certainly a positive development when the Russians and Syrians both make gestures towards dealing with these chemical weapons," President Barack Obama told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday. But Obama said the threat of American force would remain, "And we don't want just a stalling or delaying tactic to put off the pressure that we have on there right now."
Obama was making the rounds of television interviews in an effort to shore up support for a congressional resolution that would authorize him to launch punitive raids on Syria, which his administration accuses of using poison gas against opposition forces and civilians. He's scheduled to address the nation Tuesday night, and that speech is still on, he said.
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The Russian proposal came after comments by Secretary of State John Kerry earlier Monday -- remarks that the State Department said were meant to be rhetorical, but which Lavrov proposed concretely.
Asked during a stop in London whether there was anything Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government could do or offer that would stop an attack, Kerry said that al-Assad "could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week" -- adding, "He isn't about to do it, and it can't be done, obviously."
...White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington remained "highly skeptical" of the Syrian regime. But Obama told CNN, "We have not seen these kinds of gestures up until now," suggesting his threat of force had prompted "some interesting conversations."
"We're going to run this to ground," the president said. "And John Kerry and the rest of my national security team will engage with the Russians and the international community to see, can we arrive at something that is enforceable and serious."
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Al-Assad warned Monday that his country would lash out in potentially unpredictable ways after a U.S. military strike, telling CBS, "You should expect everything." He sidestepped the question of whether he would use chemical weapons against Western forces, but invoked the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington to warn that military action has unforeseen consequences.
"It is difficult for anyone to tell you what is going to happen," he said. "It's an area where everything is on the brink of explosion."
But on CNN's "The Situation Room," Obama snapped back that Syria is no threat to the United States.
"Mr. Assad doesn't have a lot of capability," Obama said. "He has capability relative to children. He has capability relative to an opposition that is still getting itself organized and are not professional, trained fighters. He doesn't have a credible means to threaten the United States."
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Sen. Jack Reed, a leading Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the Lavrov proposal is a "distinct change" in Russia's stance, "going from sort of defenders of the regime to now saying there's a real serious problem with chemical weapons in Syria."
"It is very thoughtful," said Reed, of Rhode Island, who described himself as undecided on Syria. "It goes to the essential objective that we should have, which is to deter the use of chemical weapons. This should not be about trying to settle a civil war raging in Syria."
