Weekend Gazette - 090113

Sunday September 1st 2013

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US 'has evidence of Syrian sarin use'

The US has evidence that the chemical nerve agent sarin was used in a deadly attack in Damascus last month, Secretary of State John Kerry says.

He said samples from hair and blood gathered after the attack "tested positive for signatures of sarin".
The US blames the Syrian government for the 21 August attack. President Barack Obama has vowed punitive action but wants Congress to vote on it first.
Syria dismissed the delay and said it was ready for any strike.
UN experts have been in Syria gathering evidence to determine whether chemical weapons attacks have taken place on various occasions. They have now arrived in the Netherlands with samples for analysis.
The biggest and deadliest apparent attack took place on 21 August in east Damascus. The US says more than 1,400 people were killed.

France 'Cannot Go It Alone' In Syria

PARIS/WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - France said on Sunday it could not act alone against Syria after the United States stepped back from the brink, making Paris the last remaining top ally in the Western coalition to hesitate over punishing President Bashar al-Assad.
After President Barack Obama delayed an imminent strike by deciding to consult Congress and the British parliament vetoed any involvement, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is to discuss with senior lawmakers on Monday how to respond to allegations chemical weapons attacks were launched by Assad.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls said France would await the U.S. Congress's decision, which is unlikely for more than a week at least. "France cannot go it alone," Valls told Europe 1 radio. "We need a coalition."
France, which ruled Syria for more than two decades until the 1940s, has, like the United States and Britain, the military strength to blitz the country in response to the Aug. 21 attack on rebel-held areas around Damascus. The Syrian government has accused the rebels of being to blame for the poison gas attack.

Syrian opposition urges US Congress to back military action against Assad's forces

Syria's opposition has urged the U.S. Congress to approve military action against President Bashar Assad. "Dictatorships like Iran and North Korea are watching closely to see how the free world responds to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people," the Syrian opposition coalition said in a statement Sunday. "If the free world fails to respond to such an outrageous breach of international norms, dictators around the world will be encouraged in their efforts to follow the example set by Assad."
On Saturday, President Barack Obama said he would seek congressional approval for a military strike against the Syrian government in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack.
The opposition also said a U.S. attack should be accompanied by more arms being sent to the rebels.

Syria: Obama Is 'Hesitant, Confused'

Syria said on Sunday US President Barack Obama is "hesitant" and "confused" after he postponed a threatened military strike on the regime to seek Congress approval.
"President Obama was clearly hesitant, disappointed and confused when he spoke yesterday," deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad told reporters in Damascus, in the Syrian regime's first reaction to Obama's announcement.

Britain issues legal, intelligence report backing Syria strike

Revolt by UK lawmakers force Cameron to step down on military hit; unclear how climbdown will affect US, French plans for intervention.

LONDON - Britain's government on Thursday published internal legal advice it had been given which it said showed it was legally entitled to take military action against Syria even if the United Nations Security Council blocked such action.
It also published intelligence material on last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria, saying there was no doubt that such an attack had taken place, that it was "highly likely" that the Syrian government had been behind it, and that there was "some" intelligence to suggest that was the case.

Attack on Suez Canal ship 'foiled'

Egyptian officials say they have foiled an attack on a container ship which was aimed at disrupting shipping in the busy Suez Canal.

Canal authority head Mohab Mamish said a "terrorist element" targeted a Panama-flagged vessel on Saturday, but it was undamaged.
There were reports of two blasts, but details of the attack are unclear.
Egypt's Sinai has been hit by a wave of violence since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was ousted from power.
The unconfirmed reports said there were two explosions at 12:30 GMT on Saturday as the ship, Cosco Asia, passed through the waterway.
"The situation was dealt with strictly by the armed forces," Adm Mamish said in a statement.
The Suez Canal - between Port Said and Suez - is a vital global trade route between the Red Sea and Mediterranean.

Bomb kills 3 soldiers in northwest Pakistan

The Pakistani army says a bomb blast has killed its three soldiers in a tribal region near its border with Afghanistan.

An army statement says the roadside bomb exploded Sunday in a village near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area.
The region is home to a mix of local Pakistani, Afghan and al-Qaida-linked foreign militants.
While there's no Pakistani military offensive in the region, the U.S. carries out suspected drone strikes targeting militants.
One such suspected strike Saturday killed three alleged foreign militants in an abandoned seminary in the region. In a statement, Pakistan's foreign ministry condemned the strike, calling them "unilateral" and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
While a source of tension with the U.S., Pakistan is believed to privately support some strikes. 

Fukushima radiation 18 times higher

Operator of Japanese nuclear power plant claims there has been no leak but has yet to discover cause of radiation spike

Radiation levels 18 times higher than previously reported have been found near a water storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, prompting fresh concern over safety at the wrecked facility.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said radiation near the bottom of the tank measured 1,800 millisieverts an hour – high enough to kill an exposed person in four hours.
Tepco said water levels inside the tank had not changed, indicating there had not been a leak. But the firm said it had yet to discover the cause of the radiation spike.
Last month Tepco said another storage tank of the same design as the container causing concern this weekend had leaked 300 tonnes of radioactive water, possibly into the sea.
Japan's nuclear watchdog confirmed last week it had raised the severity of that leak from level 1, an "anomaly", to level 3, a "serious incident", on an eight-point scale used by the International Atomic Energy Agency for radiological releases.
Earlier, the utility belatedly confirmed reports that a toxic mixture of groundwater and water being used to cool melted fuel lying deep inside the damaged reactors was seeping into the sea at a rate of about 300 tonnes a day.
Experts said those leaks, which are separate from the most recent incidents, may have started soon after the plant was struck by a powerful tsunami on 11 March 2011 .

Clashes as Iran exiles claims 44 dead in Iraq raid
 BAGHDAD: Clashes and explosions were reported in a camp housing Iranian exiles northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, but Iraqi officials denied allegations they killed 44 of the group's members in an offensive.

The People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), about 100 of whose members are living at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province near the Iranian border, also claimed security forces set fire to the group's property in the camp.

Local hospitals reported two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three were wounded, which officials attributed to angry camp residents attacking an army brigade responsible for the camp.

Medics did not, however, report any casualties among Ashraf residents. The United Nations did not confirm any of the varying accounts of Sunday's unrest, but the UN refugee agency said "it appears that deadly force has been used and that a number of people have been killed or wounded".

The UNHCR said it "strongly condemns this attack," adding that "the use of violence against a civilian population is unacceptable in any circumstances."

The UN's mission to Iraq said it was looking into the unrest, and called on the Iraqi government to investigate the incident.

Earlier this year at least eight people were killed in two mortar attacks on another camp housing the group, which is also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK).

Officials and MEK spokespeople gave wildly differing accounts of the unrest on Sunday and it was not immediately clear what caused the explosions and clashes, or the extent of the casualties.

Iraqi police and medical sources said five mortars hit the camp. A police colonel said that in the aftermath of the rockets "some angry Ashraf residents came out and attacked the brigade protecting the camp, killing two soldiers and wounding three in clashes". 

 Kerry takes case for Syria strike to the public
The Obama administration begins taking its case for a strike against Syria to the American people Sunday morning, with Secretary of State John Kerry making rounds on morning television news shows. 
It comes as Obama apparently is leaving the door open to moving ahead with a military strike on Syria even if Congress votes against it, adding to the confusion over the president’s evolving position.
The president, in a surprise decision Saturday, announced he would seek a vote in Congress on launching a military attack against the Assad regime.
One senior State Department official, though, told Fox News that the president’s goal to take military action will indeed be carried out, regardless of whether Congress votes to approve the use of force.
Other senior administration officials said Obama is merely leaving the door open to that possibility. They say he would prefer that Congress approve a military attack on the Assad regime, in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons, and will wait to see what Congress does before making any final decisions on authorizing military force.
Yet the possibility that Obama would move ahead without the support of Congress is sure to stir confusion among lawmakers, who had – for the most part – applauded his decision to seek their input first, though others claimed he was “abdicating his responsibility” by punting to Congress. It would raise questions about why he decided to seek congressional input at all, after having moved military assets into position immediately, and then waited days and possibly weeks for a debate in Washington.

F.B.I. Sharpens Scrutiny of Syrians in U.S.

The F.B.I. has increased its surveillance of Syrians inside the United States in response to concerns that a military strike against the government of President Bashar al-Assad could lead to terrorist attacks here or against American allies and interests abroad, according to current and former senior United States officials. 

The government has also taken the unusual step of warning federal agencies and private companies that American military action in Syria could spur cyberattacks, the officials said. There were no such alerts before previous military operations, like the one against Libya in 2011.

The authorities are particularly concerned because Iran — one of Mr. Assad’s closest allies — has said there will be reprisals against Israel if the United States attacks Syria.

Obama Might Still Attack Syria if Congress Votes No

President Obama might strike the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad even if Congress fails to authorize the use of military force, administration officials told The Daily Beast Saturday. Then again, he might not.

Following Obama’s Saturday address, during which he announced he had decided the United States “should” take military action in Syria and also decided to seek Congressional approval, administration officials clarified to The Daily Beast that they can’t rule out the president might act even if Congress fails to authorize the action of using American military force in Syria. Officials declined to speculate whether Congress would vote to authorize military action or not when it comes back to Washington.

In his prepared statement, Obama didn’t say explicitly whether Congressional approval or disapproval would be a determining factor if and when he does decide to strike Syria. In fact, he asserted that he believed he had the constitutional authority to take the action without such approval.

But Obama also said Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had told him "our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive; it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now. And I'm prepared to give that order."

Obama did say he was confident in moving forward without United Nations approval and without a resolution from the U.N. Security Council, which he called “completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable.” He asserted that he was entitled to act without Congress in Syria, but didn’t say whether or not he would do that.

Intelligence in Syria suggests US saw attack coming, didn't act

Questions are being raised about why the United States didn't act in advance of last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria, amid indications that U.S. intelligence was picking up warning signs that an attack was imminent in the days leading up to the strike.
That would have been the time to fire a “shot across the bow” at the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who allegedly ordered the attacks, a senior U.S. official familiar with the intelligence told Fox News.
 U.S. officials have said the intelligence they gathered prior to the Aug. 21 chemical attack that killed more than 1,400 people didn’t create a clear picture until after the fact.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the U.S. had "human, signals and geo-spatial intelligence" in the days before the attack that could later be used to link it to the regime.
The Washington Post reports that three days before the chemical-packed rockets fell outside of Damascus, a team of Syrian specialists gathered in the northern suburb of Adra to fill the warheads.
However, U.S. officials have described such activity as having become routine during the past two years of Syria’s civil war.
The Post also reports that U.S. spy agencies recorded each step in the alleged chemical attack, from the preparations of the rockets, to the launchings to Syrian officials conducting the damage assessment.

Palin: 'Let Allah sort it out'

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is condemning potential American military action in Syria, charging it would be President Obama “saving political face” and saying, “Let Allah sort it out.”
“So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?” Palin wrote in a Facebook message to her followers on Friday, before the president said Saturday that he would seek Congressional approval.

“Bottom line is that this is about President Obama saving political face because of his ‘red line’ promise regarding chemical weapons,” she added.

At the top of the Facebook post, Palin wrote: “LET ALLAH SORT IT OUT.”

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