U.N. inspectors visit site of alleged attack after sniper fire. Coalition forming including Turkey

[KittyWampus]

By Liz Sly, Updated: Monday, August 26, 10:00 AM E-mail the writer

BEIRUT — U.N. chemical weapons inspectors on Monday successfully entered a Damascus suburb where hundreds of people were killed last week in an alleged poison gas attack.

The convoy carrying the inspectors had come under sniper fire in its first attempt Monday to access the eastern Ghouta area of Damascus, U.N. officials said, but the team was able to retreat and then return to the site without incident.

Video live-streamed from a field hospital showed members of the U.N. Chemical Weapons Investigation Team, dressed in blue helmets and bulletproof vests, examining patients and talking to doctors who had treated some of the victims.

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Also Monday, three key American allies indicated that they would back the Obama administration if it decides to take action against Syria in response to the alleged attack, even without a United Nations mandate. The U.N. Security Council has been stymied in taking strong action on Syria by veto-wielding Russia, a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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The United States has been consulting with its allies about possible responses, and on Monday the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Turkey said in separate radio interviews that they would be prepared to back U.S. action outside the parameters of a United Nations mandate.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the Turkish Milliyet daily newspaper that more than 35 nations are considering joining the United States in taking action against Syria, and that Turkey was among them.

“We always prioritize acting together with the international community, with United Nations decisions. If such a decision doesn’t emerge from the U.N. Security Council, other alternatives . . . would come onto the agenda,” Davutoglu said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius predicted that there would be a response to the suspected attack and that it would take place soon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/un-team-headed-to-site-of-alleged-chemical-attack-comes-under-sniper-fire-turns-back/2013/08/26/5ea074c8-0e3f-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. So the US and other countries are willing to commit war crimes

by engaging in unprovoked military strikes.

Yes. bush all over again. Now I see why obama wants to give bush immunity for murdering all those Iraqis.

[leveymg]

2. Reminds me of the Triple Entente and the buildup to World War One.

Even most of the principal players are the same. The sound you are hearing is the international system collapsing as we speak.

[bemildred]

3. +1. nt