- Listen to the entire program<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/p>\n
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Calling the Syrian fatal gas attack in Ghouta last week, the \u201cworst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century,\u201d and \u201can assault on human dignity,\u201d President Obama in a statement on Friday said he has decided to take military action against the Syrian government. <\/p>\nHe added that he has also decided to ask Congress to debate and vote on authorizing him to make a military strike and submitted a draft resolution to that end to both houses of Congress on Saturday. So far Senator John McCain, Obama\u2019s first presidential election rival, has voiced support for the bill. <\/p>\n
The president\u2019s announcement came after Secretary of State John Kerry argued forcefully that the Bashar Al Assad regime had used sarin gas according to tests obtained by the US. On Sunday, as part of the administration\u2019s push to convince representatives, several members of Congress got a secret intelligence briefing from the Obama administration. <\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syria\u2019s strongest ally, hopes to send a delegation of Russian lawmakers to the US to sway members of Congress. And, Israel and the US are reported to have just conducted joint military exercises testing Israel\u2019s anti-missile system, in response to an impending attack on Syria. <\/p>\n
UN inspectors who were charged with investigating the attack have not yet published their report and could take up to two weeks to draw their conclusions. The UN\u2019s refugee agency, UNHCR has just announced that the number of Syrian refugees has now reached 2 million, up ten times from a year ago.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, reflecting majority public opinion, antiwar activists organized several demonstrations against war with Syria in a number of cities including here in Los Angeles in downtown\u2019s Pershing Square. <\/p>\n
GUEST: Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include \u201cWar Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death\u201d and “Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America’s Warfare State;\u201d Musa al-Gharbi is a research fellow with the Southwest Initiative for the Study of Middle East Conflicts. He recently wrote an essay in Counterpunch entitled Red Lines Drawn with Syrian Blood<\/em><\/p>\n
Click here<\/a> to read Norman Solomon’s article about Syria. <\/p>\n