Obama Distances Himself from Beats of War over Syria, Iran

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Obama Distances Himself from Beats of War over Syria, Iran

US President Barack Obama warned at a White House news conference on Tuesday against unilateral military action on Iran and Syria, criticizing republican presidential candidates for their ‘blusters and big talk’ about a war, saying, “This is not a game, and there’s nothing casual about it.”

"What's happening in Syria is heartbreaking, and outrageous, and what you've seen is the international community mobilizes against the Assad regime," he said, adding that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has "lost legitimacy of his people".

"The actions that he is now taking against his own people is inexcusable," Mr Obama said. "On the other hand, for us to take military action, unilaterally, as some have suggested, or to think that somehow there's some simple solution, I think is a mistake."

Obama cautioned that the Syrian situation was not the same as in Libya, when the United States used its air force to back a NATO no-fly zone.

He said in Libya, the United States "had the full cooperation of the region, Arab states, and we knew that we could execute very effectively in a relatively short period of time".

"This is a much more complicated situation," he said. "Ultimately, this dictator will fall, as dictators in the past have fallen. But the notion that the way to solve every one of these problems is to deploy our military, you know, that hasn't been true in the past, and it won't be true now."

Obama also repeated previous calls for a diplomatic solution to the situation in Iran. He said there was no need to decide now on military action against Iran and said new talks would show "quickly" how serious Tehran is about resolving the nuclear standoff.

"Iran is feeling the bite of these sanctions in a substantial way. The world is unified, Iran is politically isolated. And what I have said is that we will not countenance Iran getting a nuclear weapon," he said. "We're now seeing noises about them returning to the negotiating table, that it is deeply in everybody's interests, the United States', Israel's, and the world's, to see if this can be resolved in a peaceful fashion.
He referred to ‘military action’ as yet an ‘alternative,’ but claimed he would explore it ‘when all else fails.’

The US president said, "Those, who are suggesting or proposing or beating the drums of war should explain clearly to the American people what they think the costs and benefits would be. I'm not one of those people.”