Obama makes decision regarding Syria

On Sept. 14, the U.S. and Russia came to an agreement to seize and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons that were used against their own people on the Aug. 21 attack.
The attack occurred near Damascus, the capital of Syria, killing more than 1,400 citizens.
President Obama held off from taking military action, which gave U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov time to meet in Geneva and discuss possible solutions to removing the chemical weapons from the Syrian government. The deal between Russia and the U.S. is an attempt to seize the ongoing civil war in hopes to strike peace within the country of Syria. It also will require Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government to provide information about their arsenal of chemical weapons and to turn them over. Failure to turn the chemical weapons will result in penalties to Assad and the Syrian government.
“Ensuring that a dictator’s wanton use of chemical weapons never again comes to pass, we believe is worth pursuing and achieving,” Kerry said in an interview after the deal was finalized.
According to CBS news President Obama said this deal “represents an important, concrete step towards the goal of moving Syria’s chemical weapons under international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed.”
Before this deal was struck, President Obama was prepared to strike with military force. During his address to the nation, Obama said he would postpone the voting in Congress. This allowed John Kerry and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov time to finalize deal that would essentially be a more peaceful end to the situation.
The Syrian government and Assad has one week to comply with this agreement. It will be a long process in removing these chemical weapons from the country. International inspectors will be in Syria in November and all components of the chemical weapons program are to be destroyed by mid-2014.
The U.S. government is on a short leash with Syria. “There can be no games, no room for avoidance or anything less than full compliance by the Assad regime,” Kerry said on the matter. President Obama also made it clear that Syria is on thin ice. “If diplomacy fails, the United States is prepared to act.”
Sean Breen is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at SB718728@wcupa.edu.