Stumbles and discord greet Obama at G-20 summit

Daily News Article   —   Posted on September 6, 2013

Russia_G20(by Major Garrett, CBS News) ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Hours before President Obama arrived here to lobby world leaders to support a planned military strike against Syria*, the Pentagon had to clarify Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel‘s assertion that Russia provided chemical weapons to Syria and Russia President Vladimir Putin accused Secretary of State John Kerry of lying about al Qaeda’s links to Syrian rebels.

Obama will seek more certain footing in the city that Peter the Great founded in 1703 and that is hosting its second global economic summit in seven years.

All five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the U.S., Great Britain, France, China and Russia — will attend the summit. Obama will seek as much support as he can find to punish the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad for what Obama asserts is an air-tight circumstantial case that he ordered a chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21.

That attack, the U.S. contends, killed nearly 1,500 civilians, almost of a third of them children.

But Obama arrives with contention surrounding what top cabinet secretaries have said about the Syria conflict and Russia’s role in it. Those missteps could complicate Obama’s bid for broader international support. Even if they don’t, they provide fodder for Russians eager to pounce on any administration fumble in an effort to shield Syria, its long-time ally, from international condemnation or a U.S.-led missile strike. …

Putin minced no words in denouncing Kerry, whom the Russian president accused of down-playing the role of al Qaeda-linked fighters within the ranks of Syria’s opposition forces.

“He is lying and he knows that he is lying,” Putin said. “This is sad.”

At issue is Kerry’s assertion that moderate elements within the Syrian opposition exert the most influence and the al Qaeda-associated group Jabhat al-Nusra is a minor player militarily and organizationally. Kerry said extremist and jihadist groups comprise less than a quarter of Syrian rebel forces.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, argued in a letter last month to Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that figuring out which opposition group to back is a major challenge. Dempsey wrote that the faction the U.S. sides with “must be ready to promote their interests and ours” but currently they are not ready to do so.

Assad and Putin counter that the regime is under attack from terrorists and is justified in battling them. Putin has also said it is “ludicrous” to accuse the Syrian army of using chemical weapons when they hold, overall, most of the military advantage. Kerry and other U.S. officials have said Syrian armed forces were frustrated at their inability to eject rebels from the suburbs east of Damascus and unleashed chemical weapons to gain the upper hand.

In Stockholm on Wednesday, Obama admitted relations with Russia have “hit a wall” and while the two leaders are likely to have fleeting exchanges during the economic summit, no formal talks will occur and Syria will continue to complicate relations. Russia has vowed to oppose any efforts within the UN Security Council to authorize military strikes against Syria.

Obama will meet Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On Friday, Obama will huddle with French President Francois Hollande and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Syria will figure prominently in Obama’s discussions with the Japanese and French leaders but play almost no role in talks with China’s president due to China’s preference to sit out the global debate over Syria.

Obama won narrow approval in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday of the authorization to use force against Syria. Senators re-wrote the authorization to specifically forbid U.S. combat troops in the Syria civil war and place an initial 60-day time limit on the attack.

Obama expressed confidence Congress would ultimately approve the authorization but said in Stockholm he’s nervous the world may be afraid to hold Syria accountable for chemical weapons use.

“You can always find a reason not to act,” Obama said. “But we can send a very strong message. We can change Assad’s calculus about using them again. We can degrade his capabilities to use it again.”

Obama will repeat that plea in numerous encounters with world leaders here. Issues arising over Hagel and Kerry’s push for military action against Syria have garbled Obama’s message slightly but White House advisers hope to emerge from the summit with more coalition partners — at least rhetorically — and a process that leaves Putin out-numbered, if not marginalized.

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*Hagel told a House hearing that Russia was a primary supplier of chemical weapons. In response to a question from Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., about the origins of Syria’s chemical weapons, Hagel said: “Well, the Russians supply them. Others are supplying them with those chemical weapons. They make some themselves.”

The Pentagon later released a statement saying Hagel meant only to describe Russia’s shipments of conventional weapons, adding modifications in Syria might make them relevant to chemical weapons use.

“Secretary Hagel was referring to the well-known conventional arms relationship between Syria and Russia,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. “The Syrian regime has a decades-old, largely indigenous chemical weapons program. Currently, Russia provides the Syrian regime a wide variety of military equipment and support, some of which can be modified or otherwise used to support the chemical weapons program.”

Russian officials had no immediate reaction to Hagel’s comments.



Background

The UN Security Council: (read more at the website un.org/Docs/sc/unsc_background.html)

  • The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.
  • Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
  • There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) and ten elected members with two-year terms [these are not eligible for immediate re-election] 
  • Each Council member has one vote. 
  • Decisions on procedural matters are made by an affirmative vote of at least nine of the 15 members. 
  • Decisions on substantive matters (including imposing sanctions on a country) require nine votes, including the concurring votes of all five permanent members.
  • Under the UN Charter, all 191 Member States (countries) of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council.  While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to Governments, the Council alone has the power to make decisions which Member States are obligated under the Charter to carry out.

  • The Group of 20
    The G-20 is a collaboration of countries promoting economic growth and trade, and its members are: United States, European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Kingdom.  (Read about the G-20 at g20.org/G20.)

  • About the U.S. State Department and Secretary of State:

    • The U.S. Department of State advises the President in the formulation and execution of foreign policy and promotes the long-range security and well-being of the United States.
    • The Department determines and analyzes the facts relating to American overseas interests, makes recommendations on policy and future action, and takes the necessary steps to carry out established policy.
    • The Department … negotiates treaties and agreements with foreign nations; speaks for the U.S. in the United Nations and other international organizations in which the U.S. participates; and represents the U.S. at international conferences.
    • The Department operates the diplomatic missions [embassies and consulates] of the U.S. abroad and is responsible for implementing our foreign policy and diplomacy efforts. (from about.com)
    • The Department is led by the Secretary of State, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is a member of the Cabinet.
    • The current Secretary of State is John Kerry. The Secretary of State is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession. (from wikipedia)

  • About the Defense Department:

    • The Department of Defense (also known as the Defense Department, DoD or the Pentagon) is the Executive Department of the U.S. government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government concerned directly with national security and the U.S. armed forces.
    • The Secretary of Defense is in the chain of command and exercises command and control, subject only to the orders of the President, over all Department of Defense forces (the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps) for both operational and administrative purposes.
    • Because the Office of Secretary of Defense is vested with legal powers which exceeds those of any commissioned officer, and is second only to the President in the military hierarchy, it has sometimes unofficially been referred to as a de facto "deputy commander-in-chief".
    • The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to the Secretary of Defense and the President, and while the Chairman may assist the Secretary and President in their command functions, the Chairman is not in the chain of command.
    • The Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, are generally regarded as the four most important cabinet officials because of the importance of their departments.
    • The current Secretary of Defense is Chuck Hagel.
    • The Pentagon building is the headquarters of the Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, “the Pentagon” is often used to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself. (from wikipedia)

  • Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    • The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is, by U.S. law, the highest-ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces and is the principal military advisor to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense. 
    • While the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outranks all other officers, he does not have operational command authority over the Armed Forces; however, the Chairman does assist the President and the Secretary of Defense in exercising their command functions.
    • Although the office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is considered very important and highly prestigious, neither the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, nor the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a body has any command authority over combatant forces. 
    • General Martin Dempsey is the current Chairman.