This morning, the Associated Press reported that Syria accepted Russia's proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control, as a step to avoid a possible military attack by the United States:
Syria has accepted a Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for dismantling, the Syrian foreign minister said Tuesday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at averting Western military action.
Speaking in Moscow, Walid al-Moallem said his government quickly agreed to the plan to "derail U.S. aggression" - an allusion to possible U.S.-led strikes over a deadly Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus that Western powers blame on the Syrian regime. Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied the claim.
Russia, Syria's most powerful ally, is now working with Damascus to prepare a detailed plan of action that will be presented soon, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. Russia will then be ready to finalize the plan with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
But, as they say, never let a good diplomatic out get in the way of
warmongering and the increase of executive power:
[Jay] Carney said President Barack Obama’s position in his address Tuesday night - pushing for congressional approval of a military strike - will be unchanged from 24 hours ago, and reiterated that the “limited, focused strike” the president was advocating was already having results.
“Let’s be clear, what we’re seeing with the Russian proposal and Syrian reaction has only come about because of the threat, the credible threat of U.S. military action,” Carney said. “Before this morning, the Syrian government had never even acknowledged they possessed chemical weapons. Now they have.”
You read that correctly. The President is still planning to beat the war drums on national television tonight and push Congress to authorize war with Syria despite the fact that a diplomatic solution is currently being worked out. He had a great opportunity to save face and heed the
public will by taking the diplomatic route and, as Rep. Jim McGovern
suggested the other day, just rescinding the request for war authorization. But he has chosen to go forward, despite every indication that the AUMF cannot pass the House or, for that matter, the
Senate.
He may try to assuage the doubts of some of the undecided Democrats by telling them that he just wants the authority to attack but he's not going to actually use that authority. No one making such an argument should ever be trusted.
Also, in case you've forgotten, Congress voted to give George W. Bush the authority to go to war with Iraq in October 2002 even though the war itself didn't start for five months, March 2003.