US says would provide legal justification for Syria action

The United States would provide its own legal justification for an eventual response to chemical weapons use in Syria if necessary once President Barack Obama decides how to proceed, the White House said on Thursday.
   
"When the president reaches a determination about the appropriate response ... and a legal justification is required to substantiate or to back up that decision, we'll produce one on our own," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a briefing.

The White House reiterated that President Barack Obama would make a decision on how to respond to chemical weapons use in Syria based on U.S. national security interests.             

Spokesman Earnest noted in a briefing with reporters the comments by a top British official that the United States could make foreign policy decisions on its own.                      
Obama said in an interview with PBS on Wednesday that use of chemical weapons in Syria affected U.S. national interests.                

Earlier, President Obama spoke by phone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel about Syria. Spokesman Josh Earnest gave no details of the phone conversation.

Obama said on Wednesday that the United States has concluded that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the Aug. 21 attack, which killed hundreds in a Damascus suburb.                         

Earnest said the Obama administration is still on track to release details of an intelligence report aimed at showing why Washington is certain the Syrian government was behind the chemical weapons use.              

Senior U.S. officials are to brief congressional leaders later on Thursday in an unclassified session.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel are among senior U.S. officials who will participate in a briefing on Thursday for members of Congress about the situation in Syria, a congressional aide told Reuters.                

President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper will also participate in the briefing to be held via conference call at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), according to the aide, who had been informed of the briefing lineup by the White House.       


REUTERS