Obama intensifies PR campaign on Syria with interviews, speeches (2)

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Obama intensifies PR campaign on Syria with interviews, speeches (2)

(Xinhua) 15:10, September 08, 2013

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INTENSIFIED CAMPAIGN TO WIN DOMESTIC, INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

Obama on Saturday appealed to the U.S. public for support to his Syria plan, citing he has presented "a powerful case" to the world that Assad government should be held responsible for "the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century."

"This was not only a direct attack on human dignity; it is a serious threat to our national security," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address to the public.

Obama warned that if the U.S. takes not action, such weapons can also fall into the hands of terrorist groups who wish to do the U.S. harm.

He tried to assure the war-weary nation that such military action in Syria will not be an open-ended intervention. "This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no American boots on the ground. Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope - designed to deter the Syrian government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so," Obama pledged.

In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks Saturday with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius to discuss the response to Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons. France if one of a few U.S. allies which has voiced strong support to the U.S. military plan on Syria.

The two agreed on the need to take quick moves to respond the alleged use of the deadly gas in Damascus, as Kerry stressed that the international community "should not remain indifferent in face of the massacre."

"We must give a clear, targeted and effective answer that aims at reducing the Syrian regime's capacity of using chemical arms and dissuade it of using them once again," Kerry noted.

Kerry's European tour, which will also take him to London, is designed to win more international support to the U.S. military plan to strike Syria to impose what he said the international norm banning the use of weapons of mass destruction.

As part of the Obama camp's intensified campaign to win public support, the Democrat-led Senate Intelligence Committee released 13 videos graphically showing the victims of the alleged chemical attack near Damascus on Aug. 21.

The videos show horrific graphic images of adults and children, who were convulsing and foaming despite no obvious blood and wounds on their bodies, in apparent signs of suffering from a chemical attack.

Major U.S. TV news networks, including the CNN, broadcast the videos though they admitted that they could not independently verify the authenticity of these videos.