Obama Speech Addresses Talks on Syria World War 3
President Barrack Obama had finally addressed the fear of the looming World War 3 as sparked by his call for a military strike against Syria.
At about 9:01 pm EDT, U.S. President Obama spoke to the world from the White House. He expressed his deepest sorrow about the alleged Syria chemical weapon attack and gave specifics on how the U.S. plans its attack to punish Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons.
"My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria - why it matters, and where we go from here.
Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war.
Over 100,000 people have been killed. Millions have fled the country. In that time, America has worked with allies to provide humanitarian support, to help the moderate opposition, and to shape a political settlement. But I have resisted calls for military action, because we cannot resolve someone else's civil war through force, particularly after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The situation profoundly changed, though, on August 21st, when Assad's government gassed to death over a thousand people, including hundreds of children.
The images from this massacre are sickening: Men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas. Others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath. A father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk. On that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons, and why the overwhelming majority of humanity has declared them off-limits - a crime against humanity, and a violation of the laws of war.
The question now is what the United States of America, and the international community, is prepared to do about it. Because what happened to those people - to those children - is not only a violation of international law, it's also a danger to our security.
I determined that it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike. The purpose of this strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons, to degrade his regime's ability to use them, and to make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use."
However, as passionate as he is about the horrifying result of the alleged chemical attack done by the Assad government, he delays plan on Syria strike and instead decided to focus on Russia's proposal on internal monitoring.
He said that his decision was motivated by the Americans who expressed strong objections to war because of their terrible experience of the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
"I have, therefore, asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. I'm sending Secretary of State John Kerry to meet his Russian counterpart on Thursday, and I will continue my own discussions with President Putin. I've spoken to the leaders of two of our closest allies, France and the United Kingdom, and we will work together in consultation with Russia and China to put forward a resolution at the U.N. Security Council requiring Assad to give up his chemical weapons, and to ultimately destroy them under international control. We'll also give U.N. inspectors the opportunity to report their findings about what happened on August 21st. And we will continue to rally support from allies from Europe to the Americas - from Asia to the Middle East - who agree on the need for action."
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with CBS, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said that people should expect everything.
"You should expect everything. Not necessarily through the government, the governments are not the only player in this region. You have different parties, different factions, you have different ideologies; you have everything in this region now. So, you have to expect that."
When asked as to why the crisis in Syria had lasted for two and half years now, Mr Al-Assad blamed external interference.
"Because of the external interference, because there is an external agenda supported by, or let's say led by the United States, the West, the petrodollar countries, mainly Saudi Arabia...
The American officials should learn to deal with reality. Why did the United States fail in most of its wars? Because it always based its wars on the wrong information. So, whether they believe it or not, this is not reality....
This is reality, I'm telling you the reality from our country. We live here, we know what is happening, and they have to listen to people here. They cannot listen to their media or to their research centres."