Washington: The United States would maintain its aggressive military posture against Syria, the White House has said even as diplomatic paralyses continues at the United Nations.
"The force posture remains the same. And the threat of military force, the military option remains on the table," the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters at his news conference yesterday.
Carney reiterated that it is because of the military posture which has forced the Assad regime of Syria to acknowledge the presence of chemical weapons and agree to dismantle and destroy them under international control.
"And we are working very closely with our partners in New York at the United Nations as well as, obviously, with the Russians, to move forward on implementing that agreement," Carney said in response to a question.
US President Barack Obama has been consistent from the beginning in reaction to the horrific use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime on August 21, he said.
"He made clear that it was his belief that the United States and the international community could not fail to hold Assad accountable, that there were considerable consequences to not holding Assad accountable," Carney added.
Obama believed that because the threat was not imminent to the United States, that it was the right and appropriate thing to seek authorisation from Congress, he noted.
"The Russians, who have posed significant challenges over the past two years during this conflict, including on the issue of holding Assad accountable for the use of chemical weapons, instead now have moved forward and put their prestige on the line behind an agreement that would relieve Assad of his chemical weapons stockpile, transfer that stockpile to international control for its ultimate destruction.
"We will obviously be keenly interested in working with the Russians to ensure that they keep their commitments as we will keep ours," Carney said in response to a question.
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