Syria: Samantha Power deployed to convince liberals of case for war
The London Telegraph ^ | September 6, 2013 | Raf Sanchez in Washington
Posted on September 6, 2013 6:53:43 PM EDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The White House today deployed Samantha Power, the former human rights activist turned UN ambassador, to try to convince President Barack Obama's liberal base to support strikes against Syria.
Speaking at the Centre for American Progress, a prominent liberal think tank, Ms Power acknowledged "how ambivalent Americans are" at the prospect of another Middle Eastern conflict but argued there is "something different" about chemical warfare which demanded action.
Ms Power worked her way through a list of progressive objections to Mr Obama's plan for intervention, saying: "Those of us who are arguing for the limited use of force must justify our position, accepting responsibility for the risks and potential consequences of action."
She insisted that the US had "exhausted the alternatives" to war, saying that all efforts to engage the Syrians directly and through intermediaries like Iran, Russia and the UN had failed.
Ms Power also addressed concerns that Mr Obama, a president elected partly on his opposition to the Iraq war, was about to follow George W Bush's path of launching military action without the blessing of the UN.
She said Russian support for Bashar al-Assad had "paralyzed" the UN Security Council and blocked even a press statement signaling the global body's disapproval of the civilians death in Damascus on August 21.....
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
