National News
House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) announced their backing for President’s Obama to use military force against Syria in retaliation for using chemical weapons. Cantor said the U.S. should take the action to prevent further use of weapons of mass destruction such as sarin gas.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, meanwhile, hammered together the wording of a resolution to authorize the use of military force. The committee of ten Democrats and eight Republicans includes two Jewish members, both Democrats, Barbara Boxer of California and Ben Cardin of Maryland. With the onset of Rosh Hashanah coming on Wednesday evening, Sept. 4, committee members said they planned to vote on the resolution sometime on Wednesday, and thus clear it for action by the full Senate next week.
Jewish organizations also issued statements on the Syrian situation on Tuesday. These included:
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations: “The use of chemical weapons violates fundamental international norms and principles. The use of such indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction represents moral challenges that require a strong response. It also poses vital national security concerns to the US and to our interests and to those of our allies in the region. Those who perpetuate such acts of wanton murder must know that they cannot do so with impunity. Those who possess or seek weapons of mass destruction, particularly Iran and Hezbollah, must see that there is accountability. Failing to take action would damage the credibility of the US and negatively impact the effort to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capacity. We hope there will be a national consensus that will send a strong bipartisan message to our friends and foes alike of America’s determination to prevent the proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction.”
Anti-Defamation League: “The president clearly and unequivocally identified the significant national security interests of the United States and moral imperative underlying his decision to use military force against Syria. We support the president’s decision. Congress should act swiftly to add its voice to hold President Bashar al-Assad accountable for the wanton slaughter of his own citizens. Any nation that violates international norms and obligations which threaten the peace and security of the world must face the consequences of those dangerous acts.”
Republican Jewish Coalition issued an Action Alert on Tuesday to its 45,000 members, “calling on them to reach out to their elected officials in the House and Senate, to ask them to support the upcoming resolution authorizing the use of military force against the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria. The Action Alert stressed the moral threshold that has been crossed by Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own people. We also emphasized that it is in America’s vital national interests that we continue to be able to project – in Syria and elsewhere – a credible military deterrent. The RJC believes that this not a Republican or Democrat issue. We encouraged our members to reach out in a bipartisan fashion to Republican and Democrat officials to ask for their support of the resolution.”
American Jewish Committee announced “support for the decision by President Obama to take limited military action against the Syrian regime in response to the overwhelming evidence of the regime’s use of chemical weapons targeted at Syrian civilians.” AJC pointed out that the latest atrocity, committed on August 21 and resulting in the deaths of at least 1,400 people, “constituted a material breach of international norms, including the Geneva Protocol of 1925, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons.” The Assad regime’s latest atrocity “also defied President Obama’s warning that the use of such weapons would cross a ‘red line’ – an act of defiance that, for reasons both profoundly moral and strategic, demands a decisive response,” AJC added. The AJC cautioned that “acquiescence in the face of the crimes evidently committed by the Assad regime would doubtless have wide-ranging consequences for U.S. interests and influence in the Middle East and around the world; invite further tests of American resolve and capacity to respond to declared threats; heighten instability in a volatile region; and amount to an abandonment of international responsibility to protect civilians from the use of weapons of mass destruction.”
The debate is far from over, however. In the U.S. Senate there were these developments:
Senator Bernard Sanders, Ind.-Vermont, said: “I need to hear more from the president as to why he believes it is in the best interests of the United States to intervene in Syria’s bloody and complicated civil war.”
Senator Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, predicted on Tuesday the U.S. would increase its support for “vetted” members of the Syrian opposition. Levin said he told President Obama he believed aid should be in the form of weapons that “can’t be turned on us.”
Senator Al Franken (D-Minn) issued this statement: “There are no good options on Syria. But as I’ve said, the use of chemical weapons to kill over a thousand people and injure many more is a horrendous act, and there have to be consequences for that. Whatever action the United States takes, it has to be limited action. This can’t be an open-ended commitment, and it definitely should not lead to American boots on the ground. Congress now has an important role to play, and I look forward to participating in a vigorous debate about the use of force and the best interests of our country.”
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) said at a Labor Day picnic in Oak Park, Oregon, that he still hasn’t come to a firm conclusion on whether to vote for a military strike against Syria. “I think particularly considering how embedded and long-running this conflict is, knowing what your options are after you strike” is particularly important, he said.
Meanwhile, in other news of Jewish officeholders:
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) along with Senate Foreign Relations Committee colleagues, Jeanne Shaheen, John McCain, and Chris Murphy have called on President Obama to raise the issue of Russia’s human rights abuses at the upcoming G-20 summit. In a letter to the President, they noted that “laws passed unanimously by the Duma criminalizes public actions “committed to insult the religious feelings of believers,’ and outlaws efforts by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and their supporters to fight discrimination or seek equal protection under the law. We believe this in particular warrants your immediate attention, given that American athletes and spectators at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, could be targeted as a result of this law. We hope you will urge the Russian government to repeal these laws, which are at odds with Russia’s own constitution and its obligations as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
In Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy and Gov. Daniel P. Malloy participated in a Labor Day parade in the city where a gunman had killed six educators and 20 first-graders last December. Thousands who lined the route reserved their most heart-felt applause for the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Co and a contingent of Sandy Hook Elementary School students.
Senators Carl Levin of Michigan and Dianne Feinstein of California, both Democrats, have joined with Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican, and Tom Harkin of Iowa, a Democrat, to introduce a bill banning the practice in the 50 states of allowing unidentified persons to form corporations. S 1465 would require states to obtain the identities of incorporators. ” “Today, it takes more information to obtain a driver’s license or open a U.S. bank account than it does to form a U.S. corporation,” said Levin. “Our states don’t require anyone to name the owners of the corporations being formed under their laws, and the United States is currently one of the world’s biggest offenders in terms of creating corporations with hidden owners. In June, President Obama stood with other international leaders at a G8 summit to condemn corporations with hidden owners who commit crimes, tax evasion, and other wrongdoing. The G8 leaders made a joint commitment to combat that problem. If the United States wants to maintain its leadership and credibility on ending tax avoidance and corporate secrecy in tax havens, we need to get our own house in order. We also need to listen to the law enforcement community that supports this legislation and has been urging us for years to put an end to corporate secrecy used to hide criminal conduct.”
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Compiled by Donald H. Harrison, who welcomes your contributions via Donald.Harrison@sdjewishworld.com