as well as constructive talks i had with the russian president, putin, the international community has agreed to join in pushing assad to give up his chemical weapons. the assad regime has now admitted that it has these weapons and even said they join the chemical weapons which prohibits their use. it is too soon to tell if it will succeed. it is too early to see if assad keeps its commitments. but this has the potential to remove the use of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because they are one of assad's strongest allies. i have asked congress to postpone the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. i am sending secretary of state john kerry to meet his counterpart on thursday, and i will continue my own discussions