NEWS
September 1, 2013 | By Michael A. Memoli, This post has been corrected. See the note below for details.
WASHINGTON -- The United States now has evidence that sarin gas was used in the chemical weapons attack against innocent Syrian civilians, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Sunday. The new evidence adds to the case that the Obama administration will make to Congress for taking military action against Bashar Assad's regime, one that they are confident lawmakers will heed, Kerry said. "I don't believe that my former colleagues in the United States Senate and the House will turn their backs on all of our interests, on the credibility of our country, on the norm with respect to the enforcement of the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons," Kerry said on NBC's "Meet the Press," one of several interviews he was to sit for less than 24 hours after President Obama's surprise decision to seek a congressional vote on a military strike against the Syrian government.
ENTERTAINMENT
August 19, 2013 | By Alan Eyerly
By editing out one key word from an interview, hotshot producer Jerry Dantana (Hamish Linklater) damages ACN's journalistic credibility -- and exposes the cable network to staggering legal expenses -- on “One Step Too Many,” Episode 16 of HBO's “The Newsroom.” Jerry has visions of winning a Peabody Award as he probes Operation Genoa, a Special Forces rescue of two Marines in Pakistan. If a tip Jerry received is true -- that the U.S. sprayed a village with lethal sarin gas -- high-ranking officials could go to prison.
OPINION
June 16, 2013
Re "Anaheim's feeble democracy," Editorial, June 14 Looking at a map of Anaheim, it seems that a reasonable solution to the ongoing political challenges there might be an amicable split of the city. Affluent Anaheim Hills has little in common with largely Latino, working-class west Anaheim or even central Anaheim. Although some may say a split would amount to Anaheim Hills turning its back on the needs of the rest of the city, in fact the remaining core of Anaheim would still have a solid tax base, with Disneyland, the Honda Center and Angel Stadium remaining part of the city.
OPINION
June 16, 2013
Re "U.S. verifies Syria's use of sarin," June 14 Red line? Are you kidding? Why is it less moral for Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces to kill rebels and civilians by asphyxiating them using sarin gas than it is for them to blow off limbs or faces or send bullets into people's torsos? The moral red line was crossed long ago; the sarin red line is about the politics associated with the risks of arming the enemies of our enemy and the risks of involvement in another Mideast war. The debate should always have been about this; instead, it's embroiled in a heated struggle to decide what, if anything, to do about the declared-to-be-crossed red line.
WORLD
June 13, 2013 | By Paul Richter and Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - The White House declared Thursday that Syria had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons in that country's civil war, and in response, U.S. officials said, President Obama had authorized sending arms to some rebel groups. The arms will be provided to the rebel Supreme Military Council, an official said. The council is the military arm of an umbrella group that represents more moderate factions of the forces arrayed against the government of President Bashar Assad.
WORLD
May 16, 2013 | By Paul Richter, This post has been updated. See the note below for details.
WASHINGTON--President Obama on Thursday ruled out any unilateral U.S action in response to the alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons, further reducing the chance of any forceful response to the crossing of what Obama had described as a “red line.” At a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president, responding to a question about how he would react to conclusive evidence that the Assad regime had used such...