The US delivered a stunning snub to Britain yesterday, lavishing praise on its ‘oldest ally' France as the two countries prepared to launch missile strikes on Syria as early as this weekend. Secretary of State John Kerry paid tribute to the French for standing ready to join the US in confronting the ‘thug and murderer' President Bashar Assad. In a White House address last night, Mr Kerry pointedly made no mention of Britain – despite the historic ‘special relationship' between the two nations. Instead America was ‘confident and gratified' it was ‘not alone' in its will to act, he said, praising France, Australia and even Turkey for their support.
French kiss: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lavished praise on France last night,
calling the country 'our oldest ally' as he paid tribute to the French for standing ready
to join in planned American attacks on Syria
Case for war: Mr Kerry said there was overwhelming evidence, from thousands of sources,
that the Syrian government killed 1,429 people, including 426 children,
in a nerve gas attack in a Damascus suburb last week
'History will judge us harshly': He said the West's 'fatigue' with war 'does not absolve us of our responsibility'
to intervene in Syria, accusing its president,
Bashar Assad, of 'wanton use of weapons of mass destruction'
He called France ‘our oldest ally', apparently forgetting the anger a decade ago at its refusal to support the Iraq War, which led to the French being satirised in US media as ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys'.
In a further snub, Barack Obama later said he would prefer to take multilateral action rather than acting alone but added: ‘Ultimately we don't want the world to be paralysed.'
In a coded swipe at the UK, the President said: ‘A lot of people think something should be done but nobody wants to do it.' Insisting that the use of chemical weapons is the ‘kind of offence that is a challenge to the world,' he confirmed the US was considering a ‘limited, narrow act' intended to deter their use. He left it no doubt that the US intends to press ahead with targeted strikes aimed at preventing Assad from launching another chemical weapons attack on his own people. Whitehall sources expect the strikes to begin this weekend.
‘We're not considering any open-ended commitment,' he said. ‘We're not considering any "boots on the ground" approach.' Mr Kerry said there was overwhelming evidence, from thousands of sources, that the Syrian government killed 1,429 people, including 426 children, in a nerve gas attack in a Damascus suburb last week. He said the West's ‘fatigue' with conflict ‘does not absolve us of our responsibility', insisting: ‘History will judge us all extraordinarily harshly, if we turn a blind eye to a dictator's wanton use of weapons of mass destruction.'
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said last night it would be deeply ‘uncomfortable' to see the Americans and French working together ‘while we stand and watch'.
‘I am disappointed and I am slightly apprehensive,' he said. ‘We have a very close working relationship with the Americans. 'It is a difficult time for our armed forces, having prepared to go into this action, to then be stood down and have to watch while the US acts alone or perhaps the US acts with France.'
'We don't want to be paralysed':
U.S. Barack Obama took a coded swipe at the UK's
reluctance as he spoke on the build up to Western attacks on Syria
'Hit Assad down': Protesters in Kafranbel, in Syria's northern Idlib province,
carry banners calling for international action against their government,
which is accused of launching chemical weapons attacks
Investigation: A member of a UN investigation team takes samples of sands near what appears
to be a part of a missile in the Damascus suburb of Ain Terma,
in a photo provided by the rebel United media office of Arbeen
'I am disappointed and I am slightly apprehensive':
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said last night it would be deeply 'uncomfortable'
to see the Americans and French working together 'while we stand and watch'
With his authority at home and standing on the world stage badly damaged, Mr Cameron insisted that he still favoured a ‘robust response' to Assad's brutality. ‘We will continue to take a case to the United Nations, we will continue to work in all the organisations we are members of – whether the EU, or Nato, or the G8 or the G20 – to condemn what's happened in Syria,' he said.
Foreign Secretary William Hague, who last night faced a call from UKIP to resign over the fiasco, was said to be ‘deeply depressed' about the outcome, the first time since the 18th century that a prime minister had lost a vote on military intervention. Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown said: ‘In more than 50 years of trying to serve my country in one form or another, I don't think I've ever felt more depressed this morning or, indeed, more ashamed.'