Northwest Indiana Discussion

Over just the past week, the share of Americans who oppose U.S. airstrikes in Syria has surged 15 points, from 48% to 63%, as many who were undecided about the issue have turned against military action. By contrast, the share of Americans who support airstrikes remains virtually unchanged: Just 28% favor U.S. military airstrikes against Syria in response to reports that its government used chemical weapons.

The new survey by the Pew Research Center and USA TODAY, conducted Sept. 4-8, 2013 among 1,506 adults nationwide, finds that this growing opposition to Syrian airstrikes is intense: 45% say they oppose airstrikes very strongly. That is roughly three-times the percentage (16%) that strongly favors airstrikes.

Republicans, in particular, have turned against Syrian airstrikes. A week ago, Republicans were divided about evenly: 35% favored and 40% opposed military airstrikes in response to the government’s alleged use of chemical weapons. Today, Republicans oppose airstrikes by an overwhelming 70% to 21% margin, with 51% saying they are strongly opposed.

The ambitious U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough just days ago, hit its first delay Wednesday with indications that the Syrian government will not submit an inventory of its toxic stockpiles and facilities to international inspectors by this weekend’s deadline.

The State Department signaled that it would not insist that Syrian President Bashar Assad produce the list Saturday, the end of a seven-day period spelled out in the framework deal that Washington and Moscow announced last weekend in Geneva.

Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said Wednesday that “our goal is to see forward momentum” by Saturday, not the full list. “We’ve never said it was a hard and fast deadline.”

It wasn’t clear whether Syrian officials needed more time to complete a formal declaration of their chemical arms, or whether the disarmament deal itself was in trouble

Syria has submitted a letter detailing of its chemical weapons stocvkpile to the global chemical weapons regulator but officials said the data received was only part of the required information.

Syria is believed to have around 1,000 metric tonnes of chemical toxins and has agreed to destroy them under a joint Russian-US proposal.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said the letter was being assessed against its requirements. It also said it was indefinitely postponed a Sunday meeting to discuss a Russia-US plan to destroy Syria’s arsenal.

“The meeting of the Executive Council of the OPCW in regard to Syria, scheduled for Sunday has been postponed,” the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said. “We will announce the new date and time in this space as soon as possible,” The Hague-based organisation added.

Diplomatic sources said that a draft text to be discussed at the meeting had not yet been agreed upon by the United States and Russia

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says that he does not need chemical weapons to “challenge Israel” and “blind [it] in an instant,” according to recent remarks reported in the Arab media.

As Western inspectors prepare to enter Syria next week, Assad renewed his threats on Israel and boasted of weapons that are “more sophisticated than chemical weapons,” according to remarks published by Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar news site and carried throughout the Arab media.

The Syrian president went on to claim that he successfully fooled the United States and President Barack Obama.

Removing “the chemical weapons is not the goal of the United States and their allies,” and it never has been, Assad claimed. “They wanted to change the balance of power and to protect Israel.”

“We turned the tables and sent to the ball into their court,” Assad said. “This move embarrassed them in front of the American public, in Europe, and even in front of the U.S. government.”

The Syrian president also celebrated his “unprecedented collaboration with Russia,” which has helped arm Assad and took the lead on forging the deal to remove his chemical weapons.

[A]ssad said that US President Barack Obama had “not even a whisper of proof” that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons.

The Syrian president continued to uphold his claim that his regime had not used chemical weapons.

“This is a misstatement. So is the picture you paint of me as a man who kills his own people,” he told the magazine

“He has nothing to offer other than lies,” said Assad, contrasting Washington’s stance with that of the Russians, who he viewed as “real friends”.

“They understand much better what this is really about here… The Russians are much more independent than you in Europe, where you all orientate yourselves so much towards the United States.”

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is more determined than ever to support us… He knows from his own fight against terrorism in Chechnya what we are going through here.”

The Syrian government missed a key deadline Wednesday to turn over its chemical weapons stockpile, renewing concerns that the Assad regime is dragging its feet while the civil war rages on.

“Syrian President Bashar Assad just keeps giving excuses for breaking promises and compliance requirements, while using the delay to increase his brutality against the Syrian people,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a statement.

Under a timetable set up by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Syria was supposed to give up its entire stockpile of chemical weapons by Wednesday.