(The Guardian)- The American ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, says the US “took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more but we hope that will not be necessary”.
Speaking in her capacity as ambassador and not as the current head of the security council, Haley condemned Syria – and Russia and Iran – for their respective actions in the last six years.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has “terrorized” his country, Haley said, “murdered hundreds of thousands and displaced millions”. She says Assad has broken international law and “shocked the conscience” of the world.
On Tuesday Assad launched “yet another chemical attack, murdering men women and children in the most gruesome way,” Haley says.
“Assad did this because he thought he could get away with it. He thought he knew Russia would have his back.”
Haley says that changed with the US strike. “When the international community fails in tis duty to act collectively there are times when states are compelled to take their own action.”
The use of chemical weapons against civilians is “one of those times”, she said, and the cause for which “our military destroyed the airfield from which this week’s chemical strikes took place.
“We were fully justified in doing so. The moral stain of the Assad regime could no longer go unanswered. “His crimes against humanity could no longer be met with empty words.”
“Bashar al Assad must never use chemical weapons again, ever.”
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