[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama...I am not a dictator!
welcomed the deal reached Saturday to strip Syria of chemical weapons but said much remains to be done and Damascus must comply with the accord.
In a statement, Obama said that if the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
does not live up to the deal Washington reached with Syria's ally Russia, "the United States remains prepared to act."
| Right. What's he gonna do, play 18 instead of 36? |
The new accord gives Syria a week to provide details of its chemical weapons stockpiles, and says Syria must give international inspectors unfettered access to them with the goal of removing them by the middle of next year.
"While we have made important progress, much more work remains to be done," Obama said.
"The United States will continue working with Russia, the United Kingdom, La Belle France, the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
and others to ensure that this process is verifiable, and that there are consequences should the Assad regime not comply with the framework agreed today. And, if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act," the president added.
Obama had said earlier on Saturday he was willing to give diplomacy a chance to help resolve the Syrian crisis, but warned the military option was still on the table.
U.S. Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were engaged in a third day of talks following Moscow's surprise initiative to finalize an agreement on eliminating Assad's chemical weapons.
"We are not just going to take Russia and Assad's word for it. We need to see concrete actions to demonstrate that Assad is serious about giving up his chemical weapons," Obama said in his weekly address.
"And since this plan emerged only with a credible threat of U.S. military action, we will maintain our military posture in the region to keep the pressure on the Assad regime."