Foreign Policy the Obama Way: U.N. Talks Begin on Syria’s Chemical Weapons

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A United Nations commission said on Wednesday that President Bashar Assad’s regime and supporters are responsible for at least eight massacres in Syria, while rebels are responsible for one over the past year and a half, highlighting the moral imperative of our response to Syria.

The commission concluded, “The perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability. Referral to justice is imperative.”

Wednesday’s report does not include the August 21 attacks where previous lab tests suggest sarin gas was used. The U.N. lab reports on materials gathered from that attack will be available in a week or two, but won’t be able to assign blame as U.N. inspectors aren’t being allowed in certain areas.

Here’s something different for you on the anniversary of 9/11: The U.S. is working with the U.N., as private U.N. talks begin on Syria’s chemical weapons.

Negotiations have commenced on a proposed U.N. resolution to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control. The U.S. and France are pushing a U.N. Security Council resolution to verify Syria’s disarmament.

Moscow is balking at the U.S. and French proposed resolution which makes the resolution militarily enforceable, further suggesting that President Obama’s threat was the reason Russia finally got on board with a possible U.N. resolution. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the plan “can work, only in the event that we hear that the American side and those who support the U.S.A, in this sense, reject the use of force.”

Russia also doesn’t want official blame put on Assad’s government for the chemical attacks and they want to avoid having the responsible parties sent to an International Criminal Court (ICC), a French official close to the President told the Guardian. Russia has sent the U.S. its plan to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control and intends to discuss it on Thursday in Geneva, Reuters reported.

Syria’s Foreign Minister told Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV on Tuesday that Syria would declare the chemical weapons they have, stop producing them and sign a convention against their usage, however they would like to turn their chemical weapons over to Russia among a few other unspecified countries.

In other words, we have a long way to go in these talks to get to an agreement, and it may not happen. Yes, this process is messy and tense, but that’s the path of diplomacy and it’s far better than its alternative.

For many, this is the foreign policy we voted for. It’s not that force has no place – speak softly and carry a big stick – but that force should not be the first, second or third option.

On this horrific anniversary of 9/11, we can take heart that our President has managed to bring Russia to the U.N. table to talk about Syria and has successfully raised the issue of chemical weapons usage onto the world stage for debate, at a time when no one wanted to listen. A war-weary world had turned its back on Syria.

We are not striking first and asking questions later and we are not using Syria’s chemical weapons as an excuse to invade another country. This administration is working with the international community and getting their facts verified by the international community and the U.N., instead of selling us 935 false statements as the Bush administration did in the two years after 9/11.

The wounds from 9/11 are still fresh, but this President got reelected partly due to his foreign policy. Obama’s approach to Syria’s use of chemical weapons on its own people demonstrates that we learned something from W., and we took it to the voting booth again in 2012.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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