Arne Ruhnau: Kerry: We are not asking Senate to approve war

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover as he watches forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad near Hanano barracks in Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday, September 3. The United States, along with NATO and several other countries, blames al-Assad’s regime for a chemical weapons attack that’s believed to have killed more than 1,000 people — including more than 400 children. Tensions in Syria began to flare in March 2011 and escalated into an ongoing civil war. Click through to view the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict:

Syrian rebels leave their position in the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan on Thursday, June 13. The White House said that <a href='http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/politics/syria-us-chemical-weapons/index.html'>the Syrian government has crossed a “red line”</a> with its use of chemical weapons and announced it would start arming the rebels.” border=”0″ height=”360″ id=”articleGalleryPhoto0035″ style=”margin:0 auto;display:none” width=”640″/><cite style=

Syrian rebels leave their position in the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan on Thursday, June 13. The White House said that the Syrian government has crossed a “red line” with its use of chemical weapons and announced it would start arming the rebels.

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Syrian civil war in photos

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Kerry says Syria intelligence has been “scrubbed and re-scrubbed”

Attacks “would be limited in duration and scope,” Hagel says

The U.N. chief urges countries to “avoid further militarization of the conflict” in Syria

Syria’s U.N. ambassador says “all Syrians” will be victims of military action

Should the West intervene in Syria? Tell us what you think. Read a version of this story in Arabic.

(CNN) — U.S. intelligence proves “beyond any reasonable doubt” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government was behind the August poison gas attack outside Damascus, Secretary of State John Kerry told a Senate committee Tuesday.

Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as the Obama administration lobbied for Congress to authorize military action against Syria. From the outset, Kerry addressed the shadow of claims offered in the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, reassuring committee members that the intelligence linking Syrian government forces to the August 21 attack was solid.

“We are especially sensitive, Chuck and I, to never again asking any member of Congress to take a vote on faulty intelligence,” said Kerry, who like Hagel, voted as a senator to authorize the Iraq invasion. “And that is why our intelligence community has scrubbed and re-scrubbed the evidence. We have declassified unprecedented amounts of information, and we ask the American people and the rest of the world to judge that information.”

This time, Kerry said, “only the most willful desire to avoid reality” can deny that poison gas was used in the August 21 attack “and the Assad regime did it.” Kerry said President Barack Obama isn’t asking the United States to go to war — just “to degrade and deter Bashar al-Assad’s capability to use chemical weapons.”

Boehner: I’m supporting Obama on Syria

What are the ‘signatures of sarin’?

Pentagon: Syria can’t hide key targets

Will GOP opposition galvanize Dems?

The hearing was interrupted briefly by a member of the anti-war group Code Pink, who shouted “The American people do not want this” as she was dragged out of the room by police.

Kerry first became famous decades ago as a former Navy officer testifying against the war in Vietnam in front of the same committee. He responded to the protest that “Congress will represent the American people, and I think we all can respect those who have a different point of view.”

He said the administration has no intention of sending American ground troops to Syria “with respect to the civil war.” But he opposed any effort to put a ban on deploying ground forces into a congressional resolution authorizing military action, leaving open the possibility that U.S. troops may have to seize chemical weapons “in the event Syria imploded” or if extremist groups were poised to obtain them.

U.S. officials have said the August 21 attack left more than 1,400 dead. Obama said Tuesday that more than 400 of those were children. Syria denies government troops were behind the attack, arguing that they were the victims of a rebel chemical attack.

Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the allegations of poison gas use by his government “are false and unfounded.” Al-Assad told the French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday that an attack on his country risks a regional war.

Weapons inspectors from the United Nations are analyzing samples taken from the scene last week, but their results aren’t expected to assign blame. The United States and its allies say the rebels have no capability to carry out a large-scale chemical weapons attack, however.

U.S. strikes ‘limited in duration and scope,’ Hagel says

Hagel said any military action “would be limited in duration and scope,” and won’t be aimed at settling Syria’s 2 1/2-year-old civil war by force.

“A political solution created by the Syrian people is the only way to ultimately end the violence in Syria,” he said.

But Kerry said that if al-Assad realizes “that he cannot gas or shoot his way out of his predicament,” that might help bring talks about. On the other hand, without action, “We would have granted him the capacity to use these weapons against more people with greater levels of damage because we would have stood and stepped away.”

Earlier Tuesday, the leaders of both parties in the House of Representatives emerged from a White House meeting earlier Tuesday to support Obama’s call for American strikes.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters the use of poison gas was “a barbarous act” to which only the United States is capable of responding. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, added that Washington must respond to actions “outside the circle of civilized human behavior.”

But in a written statement later, Boehner said it is up to Obama “to make his case to the American people and their elected representatives” — including securing support from individual members.

“All votes authorizing the use of military force are conscience votes for members, and passage will require direct, continuous engagement from the White House,” the speaker said.

No vote is scheduled before Congress returns from its summer recess on Monday. Kerry defended the delay to seek congressional authorization, saying the move gives the United States time to make its case while adding pressure on al-Assad.

“This is working,” Kerry said. “There are defections taking place. There’s great uncertainty in Syria. We are building support, a greater understanding, and I would far rather be playing our hand than his at this point in time.”

Most of the focus of administration lobbying has been on the House. In the Senate, a Democratic source familiar with Majority Leader Harry Reid’s thinking told CNN that Reid is confident any authorization measure will pass his chamber. The source said it is likely 60 votes will be needed to overcome a filibuster, and Reid thinks the votes are there.

U.N. chief calls for end to Security Council ‘stalemate‘

The United Nations has said more than 100,000 people — including many civilians — have been killed in Syria since a popular uprising spiraled into a civil war in 2011. Syrian opposition activists reported another 107 dead on Monday, mostly in Damascus and its suburbs.

New U.N. figures Tuesday point to the staggering impact the war has had on the nation.

The number of Syrians who have fled their war-ravaged country has risen above 2 million, the U.N. refugee agency reported, an increase of nearly 1.8 million people over the past 12 months.

But at the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Security Council members to await test results on the samples collected by U.N. inspectors.

“We should avoid further militarization of the conflict and revitalize the search for a political settlement,” Ban said. “I take note of the argument for action to prevent further uses of chemical weapons. At the same time, we must consider the impact of any punitive measure on efforts to prevent further bloodshed and facilitate a political resolution of the conflict. The turmoil in Syria and across the region serves nobody.”

He urged member states to work through the Security Council, where Syrian allies Russia and China are expected to block any call for military action.

“The Security Council has a duty to move beyond the current stalemate and show leadership,” Ban said. “This is a larger issue than the conflict in Syria. This is about our collective responsibility to humankind.”

And al-Jaafari, the Syrian envoy, told CNN that all Syrians will be victims “of any escalation of the situation.”

“We don’t need wars. We need peaceful settlement of conflicts according to the charter of the United Nations,” he said.

Syrian troops disperse ahead of U.S. threat

Five American warships, including four guided-missile destroyers, are now posted off Syria in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Another five, including the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, are in the Red Sea, but aren’t expected to take part in any strike, a U.S. official said Monday.

Syria missile strike: What would happen next?

The threat of attack has, as expected, led to “a lot of dispersal” of Syria military assets in recent days, a U.S. official with direct access to the latest information told CNN. That means the U.S. military needs to update its target lists continuously, the official said.

But former CIA Director Michael Hayden said that also means it’s harder for al-Assad’s troops to operate on the battlefield.

“He’s dispersed his forces. He’s camouflaged his forces. He’s hidden his forces. That means he can’t use his forces,” Hayden, a retired Air Force general, told CNN’s “The Lead” on Monday. “So he’s actually suffered some military penalties because of what he’s been forced to do because by our threat of action.”

U.S. plans for strikes against Syria may be coupled with increased support for rebel forces in that country’s civil war, two leading Republican senators said after meeting with the president on Monday.

Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and fellow Armed Services member Lindsey Graham said the United States needs to help the rebels reverse battlefield gains by troops loyal to al-Assad.

Is it ‘High Noon’ for Obama on Syria?

McCain, who has called for U.S. intervention in Syria since early 2012, criticized Obama’s decision to seek a vote before striking. But he said it would be “catastrophic” for Congress to reject the president’s call to authorize military force.

And Graham told CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday that without the right American strategy, “the whole region’s going to go down in flames.” Graham, R-South Carolina, said Iran will be emboldened to continue its pursuit of nuclear weapons if no international action is taken against Syria, and the region will be further destabilized.

“Let’s see if we can come up with a strategy that has a chance of working — a military strike to degrade Assad, upgrading the rebel opposition forces, regional players help carrying some of the burden makes sense to me,” he said.

Military has concerns about Syria mission

U.N. inspectors await test results

U.N. weapons inspectors left Syria on Saturday with samples that will help determine whether chemical weapons were used in the August 21 attack. Those samples will all be at laboratories by Wednesday and will be tested “strictly according to internationally recognized standards,” Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters.

Those tests could take up to three weeks — and even then, those tests will only determine whether a gas attack took place, not who was behind it.

“If confirmed, the use of chemical weapons by anyone, under any circumstances, will be a serious violation of international law and an outrageous war crime,” Ban said.

Kerry said Sunday that hat blood and hair samples taken from medics at the scene of the alleged attack point to the nerve agent sarin. The samples reached U.S. hands “through an appropriate chain of custody, from east Damascus, from first responders,” he said.

‘Red line’ debate: Are chemical weapons worse?

But David Kay, the former head of the U.S. weapons hunt in Iraq, said the “shadowing effect” of that war makes the U.N. inspectors’ jobs more difficult.

“Remember, these results will be analyzed and re-analyzed around the world,” said Kay, the former U.N. weapons inspector who ultimately determined Iraq had dismantled the chemical, nuclear and biological weapons programs used to justify the American-led invasion in 2003. “So as an inspector, you want to get it right rather than necessarily get it quick”

Kay told CNN the question has been settled for the Obama administration “and for many Americans, including myself. But that’s not enough, because of Iraq.”

CNN’s Ed Payne, Barbara Starr, Elise Labott, Alla Eshchenko, Michael Schwartz, Evan Perez, Dana Bash, David McKenzie, Ashley Killough, Sarah Chiplin, Khushbu Shah, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Sandrine Amiel and Niki Cook contributed to this report.

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Arne Ruhnau

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Kerry: We are not asking Senate to approve war

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