HOTZONE.: U.S. seeks accountability for Syria gas attack, edges closer to military response

HOTZONE.: U.S. seeks accountability for Syria gas attack, edges closer to military response

U.S. seeks accountability for Syria gas attack, edges closer to military response

Secretary of State John Kerry laid the groundwork on Monday for possible military action against the Syrian government over a suspected chemical weapons attack, implicating President Bashar al-Assad's forces in a "moral obscenity."

In the most forceful U.S. reaction yet to last week's suspected gas attack outside Damascus, Kerry said President Barack Obama "believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people."

Kerry spoke after U.N. chemical weapons experts interviewed and took blood samples on Monday from victims of the attack in a rebel-held suburb of Syria's capital, after the inspectors themselves survived sniper fire that hit their convoy.

"What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world," Kerry told reporters. "Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity."

Kerry's tough language marked an increased effort by the administration not only to point the finger at Assad's government but to prepare the war-weary American public for a potential military response.

He accused the Syrian rulers of acting like they had something to hide by blocking the U.N. inspectors' visit to the scene for days and shelling the area.

"Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime, but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up," Kerry said.

Information gathered so far, including videos and accounts from the ground, indicate that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was "undeniable," Kerry said, adding that it was the Syrian government that maintained custody of the weapons and had the rockets capable of delivering them.

A STEP CLOSER TO MILITARY RESPONSE

There were mounting signs that the United States and Western allies were edging closer to a military response over the incident, which took place a year after Obama declared the use of chemical weapons a "red line" that would require strong action.

Obama, who withdrew troops from Iraq and is winding down U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, has been reluctant to intervene in two and a half years of civil war in Syria.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Saturday showed about 60 percent of Americans opposed U.S. military intervention, while only 9 percent thought Obama should act.

However, with his international credibility seen increasingly on the line, Obama could opt for limited measures such as cruise missile strikes to punish Assad and seek to deter further chemical attacks, without dragging Washington deeper into the war. The United States has started a naval buildup in the region to be ready for Obama's decision.

Kerry stopped short of explicitly blaming the Syrian government for the gas attack but strongly implied that no one else could have been behind it and said the United States had "additional information it would provide in the days ahead.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was "very little doubt" that the Syrian government was to blame but that Obama had not yet decided how to respond.

The Obama administration has not set a timeline for responding but officials are preparing options for with a sense of urgency, the State Department said.

While senior Republicans are mostly urging Obama to respond forcefully against Assad, House of Representatives' Speaker John Boehner's office called on the president to make his case to the American people and also to engage in "meaningful consultation" with Congress, which he said had not taken place.

"The president has an obligation to the American people to explain the rationale for the course of action he chooses, why it's critical to our national security and what the broader strategy is to achieve stability," said Brendan Buck, spokesman for Boehner, the top Republican in Congress.

A U.S. security source said that as of Monday, Washington and its allies still did not have conclusive scientific evidence that the attack involved chemical weapons, and that such proof could take days or weeks to gather.

But sources said while the evidence may be "circumstantial," U.S. intelligence has "high confidence" that chemical weapons were used by Assad's forces

HOTZONE

APC sets up harmonisation committees in states

The National Interim Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress has approved the establishment of State Harmonisation Committees in a bid to regulate the activities of the party in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The SHCs are expected to prevent a vacuum between the party’s activities at the national and state levels.

A statement on Sunday by the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, explained that the party’s interim national leadership decided to set up the committees after adopting the report of the Masari Committee during its meeting in Abuja last week.

The committees are mostly made up of current and former top government officials, members of the National Assembly and others who were chieftains of the political defunct parties which merged into the APC.

The merged parties are the Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party. The APC now referred to the three as ‘legacy parties.’

The Mohammed’s statement said, “The SHC shall comprise president/vice president, past and serving, who are members of the legacy parties; governors/deputy governors, past and serving, who are members of the legacy parties; serving and former Senators who are members of the legacy parties; serving members of the House of Representatives who are members of the party and speakers or minority leaders of the states Houses of Assembly who are members of the party.”

Other members of the SHCs, according to the statement, are “former ministers who are members of the legacy parties; all immediate past national exco members of the legacy parties; immediate past gubernatorial candidates of legacy parties and their deputies where APC does not have a sitting governor who are still members of the legacy parties.”

The SHCs also include “nine persons comprising of three elders, three youths and three women, with one of each being from each of the Senatorial Districts of the state;  state Chairmen and the secretaries of the legacy parties; members of the National Interim exco and federal commissioners who are members of the legacy parties.”

The statement also outlined the functions of the SHCs.

Mohammed said the SHCs are expected to “harmonise and fuse the structures of legacy parties into one united, strong and vibrant APC party in an atmosphere of peace and harmony; organise and hold meetings of the party at all levels in the state (that is polling units, wards, LGA, Area Council and State); and to embark on massive mobilisation, coordination and consolidation of members into the party in accordance with stipulated guidelines issued by National Interim exco.”

The state committees are also expected to take inventory of existing assets of the legacy parties across the state; and harmonise same for the effective establishment of the party structure in all polling units, wards, local government and state in accordance with the directive and guidelines from the National Interim exco.

They will also ensure effective implementation of the registration process, “such that all persons desiring registration into the party are afforded the right to be so registered in accordance with the directives from the National Interim exco.”