Kerry says Assad should hand over all chemical weapons within one week to avert attack

[jsr]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/world/middleeast/kerry-says-syria-should-hand-over-all-chemical-arms.html

Kerry Says Syria Should Hand Over All Chemical Arms
By MICHAEL R. GORDON

LONDON — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that if President Bashar al-Assad wants to avert an attack on Syria, he should hand over all of his chemical weapons within one week.

Asked if there were steps the Syrian president could take to avert an American-led attack, Mr. Kerry said, “Sure, 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 and allow the full and total accounting.”

Mr. Kerry’s remarks, which were made at a joint news conference with William Hague, the British foreign secretary, were the latest in a war of words between the Syrian leader and the Obama administration.

[el_bryanto]

1. Well that'll certainly happen.

Remember when Iraq let in nuclear inspectors? That ended that rush to war in a hurry.

Bryant

[HardTimes99]

2. What an international buffoon Kerry is (and a disgrace) - nt

[Eugene]

3. Kerry speaking rhetorically over Syria turning in weapons: State Department

Source: Reuters

Kerry speaking rhetorically over Syria turning in weapons: State Department

LONDON | Mon Sep 9, 2013 12:22pm BST

(Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry was making a rhetorical comment when he said on Monday that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad would not hand over his country's chemical weapons.

Kerry told a news briefing on Monday that Assad could avoid a military strike by turning over all his chemical weapons within a week but added that Assad was not about to do that.

"Secretary Kerry was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used," a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

"His (Kerry's) point was that this brutal dictator with a history of playing fast and loose with the facts cannot be trusted to turn over chemical weapons, otherwise he would have done so long ago. That's why the world faces this moment."

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Editing by Stephen Addison)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/us-syria-crisis-weapons-idUKBRE9880GE20130909

[Art_from_Ark]

4. Second verse

same as the first

[Cleita]

5. A little bone for us to chew on.

Now if he speaks about meeting with all players involved to disarm and call a cease fire in order to negotiate a peace, then I'll say real progress is being made.