US Secretary of State repeats Obama's message that military action in Syria would not be a repeat of Iraqor Afghanistan; tells reporters in London that US envisions "very limited, very targeted, very short-term effort."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague greets US counterpart John Kerry in London, Sept. 9, 2013.Photo:Reuters
US Secretary State of John Kerry vowed Monday that the United States was not about to embark on a long-term military adventure in Syria, echoing President Barack Obama's pledgethat any action would not be a repeat of the two controversial American wars of the past decade.
"That's not what we are talking about. We are not going to war. We will not have people at risk that way,"he said during a press conference with his British counterpart William Hague in London. "We will be able to hold Bashar Assad accountable .... in a very limited, very targeted, very short-term effort."
He said he understood the American and European people's reticence about military action, but said that the risk of not acting in Syria was greater than the risk of acting.
Obama has declared his intent to take military action against the Assad regime for its apparent use of chemical weapons, most recently in neighborhoods on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21.
Obama and Kerry have been making a persistent case for military action both domestically and internationally. Key Assad ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has insisted that there is not sufficient proof of such attacks and has come out strongly against any American strike on Syrian soil.
Kerry said Monday that Syria could prevent a military attack, however, if Assad handed over all his chemical weapons to the international community within the next week, but added that Assad was not about to do so.
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