Kerry: We have proof sarin used in chemical attack
Top US diplomat lays out case for action against Syria, brackets Assad with Saddam and Hitler, says Congress will green-light use of force
The United States now has evidence of sarin gas use in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday, adding that the “case is building” for a military attack.
A day after President Barack Obama stepped back from his threat to launch an attack, deciding first to seek approval from Congress, Kerry said in a series of interviews on the Sunday television news shows that the administration learned of the sarin use through samples of hair and blood provided to Washington by first responders in Damascus.
“This case is going to build stronger and stronger,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” But he also said he thinks “the people of America should be celebrating that the president is not acting unilaterally.”
He added that federal officials had used hair and blood samples provided by first responders to determine the nature of the August 21 attack, which he said Friday had killed 1,429 Syrians. He said the information only came to his attention in the last 24 hours.
Kerry said he was confident that Congress would give Obama its backing for a military strike against Syria. But the former senator also said the president has authority to act on his own if Congress doesn’t give its approval.
“The case hasn’t changed and the case doesn’t change at all. The rationale for a military response is as powerful today” as it has been, Kerry said.
Kerry maintained there is no weakness in the US case underscoring Obama’s about-face, saying instead that “the president believes that we are all stronger as a nation when we act together.”
The secretary said that Syria’s President Bashar Assad “has now joined the list of Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein” in deploying chemical weapons against his population and that “the case remains the same” for a US response. Kerry echoed Obama in saying the world cannot stand by and watch Assad use chemical weapons.
Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” if the US obtained its new information from UN weapons inspectors who had visited Syria, Kerry responded, “No, it is independent. … But it is confirmation of the signatures of sarin.”
“In the last 24 hours,” he said, “we have learned through samples that were provided to the United States, that have now been tested, from first responders in east Damascus, and hair samples and blood samples have tested positive for signatures of sarin.”
He was asked repeatedly what Obama would do in the event that Congress refuses to give its consent, Kerry said, “The president has taken his decision.”
“I think this is a smart decision by the president. … He is not trying to create an imperial presidency,” Kerry added. “I believe that in the end, Congress will do what is right,” Kerry told “Fox News Sunday.”
Administration officials have said that Obama appeared set on ordering a strike until Friday evening. After a long walk in near 90-degree temperatures around the White House grounds with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, the president told his aide he had changed his mind.
These officials said Saturday that Obama initially drew pushback in a two-hour session attended by Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Director of National Intelligence James Klapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security adviser Susan Rice and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco. They declined to say which of the participants had argued against Obama’s proposal.
Congress is scheduled to return from a summer break on September 9 to discuss the issue.
On Friday, Kerry delivered an impassioned plea for action against Syria, saying that the world was watching how Washington responded to the alleged gassing of civilians outside Damascus on August 21.
He said 1,429 people had been killed in the attack, though opposition groups cite lower numbers.