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Professor Noam Chomsky says even with congressional approval, an attack on Syria without UN support is a war crime. “As international support for Obama’s decision to attack Syria has collapsed, along with the credibility of government claims, the administration has fallen back on a standard pretext for war crimes when all else fails: the credibility of the threats of the self-designated policeman of the world,” Chomsky told HuffPost in an email.

Minister Louis Farrakhan, the national leader of the Nation of Islam, addressed “America’s Errant Foreign Policy” in the 34th installment of his weekly YouTube address, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” specifically challenging the Obama administration’s call for military intervention in Syria. “Based on America’s history of false flag operations, great doubt exists as to the truth of whether the Syrian government is in fact responsible for the use of chemical weapons or is America responsible through the use of her proxies,” the fiery NOI leader questioned. “What would Syria have to gain by using chemical weapons to cause...

Former high-ranking UN officials urged the United States and others Monday to refrain from bombing Syria over a devastating chemical attack, and instead work harder to broker a political solution in the war-torn country. Former deputy chief of the United Nations Hans-Christof von Sponeck launched the appeal in Swiss daily Le Temps' online edition, with support from his former UN colleagues Denis Halliday, Said Zulficar, Samir Radwan and Samir Basta. "True courage does not consist in sending in cruise missiles...it consists in radically breaking from this murderous logic," wrote von Sponeck, who coordinated the UN's humanitarian actions in Iraq from...

Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has largely remained in the shadows amid allegations that his regime killed more than 1,000 people in a chemical weapons attack, claimed in an interview with a French newspaper that his accusers — including the White House and the French government — have no evidence. "Anyone accusing must give proof," Assad told Le Figaro in interview excerpts published online Monday. "We have challenged the United States and France to come forward with a single proof." When asked how he would respond to potential military strikes against key Syrian targets, Assad suggested that the region will...

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan condemned US Barack Obama’s decision to consider carrying out a military strike in Syria on Monday. A suspected chemical attack near Damascus on August 21 is said to have killed hundreds. The Syrian government has denied any involvement and has instead accused rebel forces for the attacks. Khan said that the issue of whether the Syrian government used chemical weapons in the Damascus attacks needs to be investigated by UN inspectors and action taken on the basis of UN reports should be in accordance with United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The PTI Chairman said,...

Speaking to the BBC's Jeremy Bowen, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said terrorism would flourish everywhere if the US attacked Syria Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad also told the BBC that armed groups backed by America - not Syrian troops - had used chemical weapons. The US says it has evidence that Damascus used the nerve agent sarin in a deadly attack in August Mr Mekdad told the BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Damascus: "Any attack against Syria is support for al-Qaeda and its affiliates, whether Jabat al-Nusra or the State of Islam in Syria and Iraq." Jabat al-Nusra...

[video] On CNN's The Lead, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) explains his opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria's civil war: "It's not even clear it was a chemical attack. If it was a chemical attack, then the residue left on the clothing of victims would have poisoned other people. That hasn't happened."

A week after accusing Israel of giving Al-Qaeda chemical weapons to use against civilians in Syria, British MP George Galloway was caught lying about his remarks during a debate in Parliament. … On Thursday, during a debate in the British Parliament on whether to take part in a military offensive against Syria, Galloway was challenged by Matthew Offord, a representative of Hendon in North London. Offord said he had received several e-mails from constituents on Galloway’s hateful remarks, then said, “I would find that very hard to believe that the honorable member said that, so would he like to take...

President Barack Obama said that an introduction of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war would constitute a "red line" with "enormous consequences" that "would change [his] calculus." That was a year ago. This past March, Obama said, "We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists. ... We will hold [Bashar al-Assad] accountable." Credible sources -- including Britain, France and U.S. intelligence agencies -- accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on two or more occasions, once last December and possibly twice during March. Obama took...

Chris Hayes discusses the United States considering military action in Syria with former Congressman Tom Perriello, Amy Goodman, host of "Democracy Now!" and Eli Lake, senior national security correspondent for Newsweek and The Daily Beast.

Former president Carter on Friday came out strongly against military action in Syria without the United Nation's blessing. "Punitive Action" without a mandate from the U.N. Security Council or "broad support from NATO and the Arab League" would be illegal under international law and unlikely to alter the course of the war,"... ...

Amid increasingly hostile threats from Syria and Iran that Israel will be attacked if the US carries out an anticipated punitive strike against the regime of President Bashar Assad for its chemical weapons use, Israel reportedly sent messages to Damascus via third parties Wednesday warning Assad that any attack will be met with a forceful IDF response. Iran’s leaders also issued warnings Wednesday to the United States over military intervention against their Syrian ally. Iran’s chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted by Israel’s Channel 2 Wednesday declaring that “if the US attacks, the Zionists will burn,” and an Iranian...

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki said Wednesday that military action against Syria targets all Arabs and only serves the interests of Israel. "Despite our opposition to using chemical weapons by groups that want to create excuses to destroy Syria, we are sure that the West will use this as an excuse to intervene in Syrian affairs," Zaki told Ma'an. Syria can play a pivotal role in regional security and leaders must end the crisis through peaceful means, he said. The Fatah central committee member also accused the United States of a double standard policy towards Israel, which...

Anti-war Democrats in Congress are getting the band back together. Democrats who made their names opposing the Iraq war are not staying silent as a president of their own party prepares to attack Syria. But they’re not exactly demanding that President Barack Obama stand down from launching airstrikes in the country. Like many Republican lawmakers, they want Congress to authorize any military action there, and are urging the administration to allow a healthy debate on the proper U.S. role — if any — in the dangerous country. But their criticism, at this point, falls short of total condemnation. The anti-war...

“I am compelled to write because very soon grave things will happen,” Castro wrote. “In our time, no more than 10 or 15 years go by without the human race being in danger of extinction.” “The Empire’s Navy and Air Force and their allies are preparing to begin a genocide against the Arab people,” he added. .... Cuba’s Foreign Ministry also criticized Washington and its allies on Syria on Wednesday. “An aggression against Syria would provoke the gravest consequences for the already troubled Middle East region,” it said in a statement. “It would constitute a flagrant violation of the principles...

News that the United States is considering a military strike on Syria in response to the Bashar al-Assad regime's suspected use of chemical weapons suggests we could soon see an American bombing campaign on the war-torn country. The atrocities that took place in Syria recently, such as those that have been taking place there for almost two years, are deplorable and inhuman. Before bombing Syria over the regime's latest crimes, however, we should stand back and ask, "And then what?"....

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says any outside military action taken against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons on its own citizens could lead to a "disastrous war." Maduro is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and made the comment Tuesday while visiting a Russian warship in Venezuela's La Guaira port.

Former Cleveland congressman Dennis Kucinich, who has met repeatedly with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, was quoted yesterday in a Capitol Hill newspaper as saying that a U.S. military strike on Syria would turn the U.S. military into "al Qaida's air force." ...

... “So what, we’re about to become al-Qaeda’s air force now?” Kucinich sarcastically asked The Hill. He went on to warn against attempting to “minimize” an intervention by terming it a “targeted strike.” Such a strike, he said, would still constitute an act of war. Kucinich also blasted the Obama administration for “rushing” into what he said could become a third world war, and he cast doubt on reports by rebels of governmental forces using chemical weapons. He declared that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was a “pretext.” “The verdict is in before the facts have been gathered,”...

Former congressman Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) said today that striking Syria would turn the United States military into “al-Qaeda’s air force.” Kucinich, who voted against the Iraq War and campaigned for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004 and 2008, lambasted the idea that Obama could act without congressional authorization, which he said would be a violation of the Constitution. He also warned that intervening in Syria would entangle the United States in another war in the Middle East and encourage Islamists who are fighting the forces of Syrian president Bashar Assad. “So what, we’re about to become al-Qaeda’s air...