Page 1009 - Commitments News Today

Before we raised the profile of this issue on august 21st. syria had not even acknowledged that it had stockpiles of chemical weapons. now not only have they done that, theyve signaled their interest in joining the chemical weapons convention. what we need to see, though, is that there is a verifiable process that is established, so not only do we have their words and their commitments, but theres a sequence of actions that are set up, so these weapons can move under international control and be...

Whats your reaction to that worry and that criticism? >> well, i think it is a concern. what weve seen in the last three weeks is progress that could not have been anticipated before we raised the profile of this issue on august 21st. syria had not even acknowledged that it had stockpiles of chemical weapons. now not only have they done that, theyve signaled their interest in joining the chemical weapons convention. what we need to see, though, is that there is a verifiable process that is estab...

Process, that will allow us to track whether the assad regime is meeting its commitments. those two tracks will take place in parallel, the technical discussion about how you do this, and the political discussion about how you get a resolution to the united nations in holding syria to account. >> ben, we have seen from the white house, sort of explanation about how this option came about, i think trying to dispel the notion that it dropped out of the sky, that it was something the russians cooke...

The result is that putin is now responsible for this happening and not us. >> no, hes not. no, hes not. [ overlapping speakers ] >> otherwise its not going to work. >> he said that he will take responsibility of the u.n. security council to ensure that these weapons are secured and eventually destroyed. he said that publicly. >> he was going to take responsibility for milosevich, too. not he but russia. >> andrew, when we seers when assad fails to honor his commitments, when we see the shifty te...

Of state john kerry on monday. >> he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week, turn it over. all of it. without delay assads chief benn ben factor the russians have responded by saying they would come up with a proposal to do exactly that. >> its too early to tell whether this offer will succeed. in any agreement must verify that the assad regime keeps its commitments. i have asked the leaders of congress to postpone a vote to autho...

Damascus to place chemical weapons under international control. >> its too early to tell whether the offer will succeed. and any agreement must verify that the assad regime keeps its commitments. but this initiative has the potential to re move the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force. particularly because are you uh shah -- russia is one of assads allies. >> it is the policy of the administration to trust these two men. we are all suppose ed to take their word on an issue as sens...

Chemical weapons in a massive and indiscriminate way against its own citizens. president obama and dozens of our partners believe that that action is unacceptable and we have in no uncertain terms made it clear that we cannot allow that to happen again. in light of what has happened, the world wonders and watches closely whether or not the assad regime will live up to its public commitments that its made to give up their chemical weapons and whether two of the worlds most powerful nations can, t...

Diplomatic push to avoid a rumble. james. >> good evening. expect deaths are high, said secretary of state kerry, but more so argued for the russias. just before hand kerry spoke by telephone with the leaders of the political military wings of the syrian rebel forces. kerry seeking to reassure the rebels the u.s. is not selling them out to achieve a deal on chemical weapons. quote in both calls, kerry aides said, the secretary made clear he was seeking tangible commitments the russians are inter...

And any agreement must verify that the assad regime keeps its commitments. but this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical winds without the use of force. >> wow, there were some harsh reviews last night. john harris wrote two weeks of zigzag foreign policy by president obama marching to war one moment culminated in a zigzag address to the nation that did little to clarify what will come next in the syria crisis which shined a glaring hot light on the debate in the preside...

Work together to determine if there is life in this concept. this challenge obviously took on grave urgency on august 21st, when the syrian regime used chemical weapons in a massive and indiscriminate way against its own citizens. president obama and dozens of our partners believe that that actions unacceptable and we have in no uncertain terms made it clear that we cannot allow that to happen again. in light of what has happen, the world wonders and watches closely whether or not the assad regi...