Syria crisis: Obama leans to diplomacy on chemical weapons impasse

In a televised address, president cites Russian-backed disarmament plan as reason for postponing military action

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Link to video: Barack Obama addresses the nation on Syria – video

Barack Obama has used a televised address to lay the path for a possible diplomatic resolution to the impasse over Syria, pledging to work directly with Russia to force the Assad regime to give up its chemical weapons but insisting military strikes remain a possibility.

The US president said that although he had suspended a congressional vote to authorise force against Syria, he had ordered the military to "maintain their current posture to keep the pressure on Assad and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails".

However in what were his most dovish remarks since his administration began briefing two weeks ago that a strike was imminent, Obama said he would wait for the United Nations inspectors to complete their report on the 21 August chemical attacks outside Damascus before taking further action. He said there were "encouraging signs" of a political resolution.

Just a few days ago the White House dismissed the UN inspection process as irrelevant and said Russian intransigence had held the security council hostage.

The 15-minute speech from the White House capped a dramatic 36 hours in which the Obama administration, faced with increased opposition in Congress to the use of military force, seized on a Russian-backed proposal that would involve Syria giving up control of its chemical weapon stockpiles under the remit of a possible UN resolution.

Obama said he had asked congressional leaders to postpone the vote authorising force "while we pursue this diplomatic path", adding that he was dispatching the secretary of state, John Kerry, to meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva on Thursday. The president said he had a "deeply held preference" for a peaceful solution and welcomed an initiative by Russia that would put Syria's chemical weapons under international control. "It's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments, but this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad's strongest allies," Obama said.

At the start of the week Obama had been planning to use this special address to the nation to persuade a largely sceptical US public of the need for military strikes in response to the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons in eastern Damascus on 21 August. The White House had argued it would pursue strikes without waiting for the UN inspection report, which it said was irrelevant because it was already widely accepted that the Syrians had used chemical weapons.

Earlier on Tuesday, after abandoning its previous plan to seek open-ended authorisation from Congress for punitive air strikes, the administration began to focus its efforts on a bipartisan plan in the Senate to craft a new resolution that would set a deadline for Syrian co-operation with the UN on disarmament and authorise the use of force if that deadline was broken.

Despite a week of intensive lobbying and a rare personal visit to Capitol Hill by Obama on Tuesday, analysts predicted a straight vote for military force against Syria was going to fail in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Few had expected Obama's address to the nation was likely to change that. Obama acknowledged the lack of appetite for military action in his address, saying that "after the terrible toll of Iraq and Afghanistan the idea of any military action, no matter how limited, is not going to be popular".

His speech mostly repeated previous arguments he has made in recent television interviews, and in an address from the White House 10 days ago, for holding Assad to account over the chemical weapons attack, which the US says killed more than 1,400 people. The president emphasised pictures of children suffering after the "sickening" gas attack.

Although Syria has pledged to sign the convention, which would require it to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, there is international disagreement about how any disarmament would be enforced. The US, UK and France are seeking a tough security council resolution, bolstered with the threat of force if Syria does not comply with its obligations. But that approach is opposed by Russia, which first pushed for the diplomatic solution but is now proposing a much milder, non-binding security council declaration.

Amid confusion over the terms of any UN deal, Russia summoned an emergency council meeting for 4pm on Tuesday then abruptly cancelled it. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, insisted any disarmament process would work "only if the US and those who support it on this issue pledge to renounce the use of force, because it is difficult to make any country – Syria or any other country in the world – unilaterally disarm if there is military action against it under consideration".

Obama implicitly rejected that demand in his speech, saying the the US should still be prepared to take military action against Syria and arguing that a tough response would punish President Bashar al-Assad and deter other dictators from using chemical weapons.

However amid congressional opposition, and Obama's pledge to pursue a diplomatic route, strikes against Syria now appear less likely than they have since 26 August, when Kerry gave a tough speech that was widely interpreted as a prelude to military action.

In the intervening two weeks the US administration first appeared to be on the cusp of launching strikes and then rowed back, reacting to a decision by the British parliament to reject the use of force.

Observers in Washington are divided over how Obama has handled the Syria crisis, which is likely to become one of the defining moments of his second term in office. Some argue the president has dithered, pulling back from the brink of military strikes after initially indicating they were imminent. They say he has appeared to an indecisive commander in chief, buffeted by events outside of his control and outsmarted by Putin.

Others contend Obama has proved a shrewd and patient strategist in a game of brinkmanship that may ultimately result in Syria relinquishing chemical weapons without the president resorting to unpopular military strikes.

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