Ed Miliband announced on Wednesday that Labour would vote to block an immediate military strike against the Assad regime. Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian.
Nicholas Watt
The Guardian
Britain's political class (click here) has been woken from its summer reverie with a shudder as the Syrian crisis creates a defining moment that will shape perceptions of all the main political leaders.
Ed Miliband, who takes pride in the way he confronted Rupert Murdoch over phone hacking, identified an even larger target on Wednesday when he announced that Labour would vote to block an immediate military strike against the Assad regime. While that created a parliamentary headache for David Cameron, Labour aides acknowledged it also marked a direct challenge to Barack Obama's plan to launch the strikes before the weekend.
Downing Street is, naturally, deeply irritated with Labour and borrowed Margaret Thatcher's famous warning to George Bush Sr after the Iraqi invasion on Kuwait, when it accused Miliband of undergoing a "wobble". The Labour leader had appeared to indicate for 24 hours that he would support military action subject to proper legal clearance....
Thatcher was never all that. Millibrand is doing Cameron a big favor. He is making Cameron take stock of the circumstances facing them before anyone in Syria dies from a single shot by The West.
No one can deny the chemical weapons are out of control in Syria, but, it would be a mistake to make assumptions of these problems. Assad is completely without ability to control the chemical weapons, but, to simply assume a few strikes might end the danger is sincerely not known yet.
Now if Cameron wants to proceed while realizing all the facts aren't in yet, that it is at his own political peril and the possibility deaths can be hung around his neck.
I would expect the missile sites would have to be destroyed along with the missiles as in Libya. That would begin to eliminate the danger. No one, regardless of the faction, could launch at anyone else. That could be a very fateful incident if the missiles were launched over a Syrian border.
Bloomberg News
Israelis thronged to distribution centers (click here) to pick up government-issued gas masks, afraid their country will be targeted in retaliation if the U.S. attacks Syria.
The Israel Postal Service, which is distributing the masks, announced on its website that the centers would extend their hours until evening "due to extraordinary demand." In Haifa, the biggest city closest to the northern border with Lebanon and Syria, people waited in line for hours, Israel Radio said. Some centers ran out of masks.
"I'm disappointed there aren't enough masks, but I'm also upset at myself because my mother told me six months ago I should take care of this," said Inbal Demma, 28, of Jerusalem, who had come to pick up masks and an infant gas tent at the city's Hadar mall for herself, her husband and their 2-month-old daughter...
I am grateful the USA is standing by for the UN Inspectors. If we weren't there I doubt the cooperation would exist. I believe our presence has given everyone pause as well.
I fully expect there will be no tampering of the specimens either. Chain of custody is important as well as the methods to process them.
Austrian
Chancellor Werner Faymann and President Heinz Fischer welcome U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, from left, at the Hofburg palace in
Vienna, Austria on Thursday, August 29, 2013. Ban says the UN inspectors
investigating the the alleged chemical attack in Syria will be leaving
the country on Saturday. He asked for time for the inspection team to
complete its investigation. He says all opinions should be heard before
anyone makes decisions on how to react to the alleged attacks. Painting
in the background shows late Austrian Empress Maria Theresia.
August 29, 2013
Updated: August 29, 2013 12:53pm
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations (click here) says some of its chemical weapons experts in Syria will personally take samples to laboratories around Europe after leaving Damascus on Saturday morning.
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq says the team's final report will depend on the lab results and that it could take "more than days."
However, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expects to receive an initial report on the investigation soon after the experts leave Damascus. Haq said Ban is flying back to New York on Thursday, cutting short a visit to Austria to be ready to receive the report.
The team's mandate is only to determine whether chemical weapons were used in an attack that reportedly killed hundreds of people last week. But Haq suggested that the findings might indicate who was behind the attack.
