Syria - Stay on Strikes.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday has postponed his request for  authorization for strikes on Syria to pursue a diplomatic solution but he warned that  US military would stay on alert to respond should talks fail

Obama said  there is a possibility of heading off the need to take military action, following a Russian offer to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up his chemical weapons.

He said, though, that he was skeptical of the success of the plan, adding that he had kept US forces in a position to attack as he urged Americans to support his threat to use force as a necessary alternative.

The speech came after hours of diplomatic wrangling in Moscow, Damascus and Washington DC, as Syria acknowledged it had chemical weapons and was willing to give them up,

Obama said: "It's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed. And any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force.

"I have therefore asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. I’m sending Secretary of State John Kerry to meet his Russian counterpart on Thursday, and I will continue my own discussions with President Putin.

"I’ve spoken to the leaders of two of our closest allies - France and the United Kingdom - and we will work together in consultation with Russia and China to put forward a resolution at the UN Security Council requiring Assad to give up his chemical weapons and to ultimately destroy them under International control"
He however, acknowledged the limitations of military action.

"I don’t think we should remove another dictator with force. We learned from Iraq that doing so makes us responsible for all that comes next. But a targeted strike can makes Assad - or any other dictator - think twice before using chemical weapons."

"America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong, but when with modest effort and risk we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should Act."

 Hmmm. ok now, lets see where this goes. the rebels are not even making clear to the Americans what they want.