奥巴马大力宣传武力制裁叙利亚：自信还是绝望?

2013-09-09 00:00:00来源：网络

　Obama’s full-court press on Syria: Confidence or desperation?

　　英文来源：雅虎新闻中文翻译：新东方在线编辑整理

　　Pushing his case for a US military response to chemical weapons in Syria, President Obama will do six TV interviews Monday. Other senior administration officials are flooding the airwaves as well.

　　On Syria and chemical weapons, President Obama has launched a full-court political press rarely seen in Washington.

　　Top administration officials are granting on-air interviews to every broadcast outlet this side of Dubuque. Secretary of State John Kerry is criss-crossing time zones and borders in search of support. Vice president Joe Biden is working the phones in Congress. We’ve been told that first pets Bo and Sunny are lobbying their friends at the dog park.

　　On Monday, the President himself will do six – count ‘em, six – TV interviews, hitting all major networks and cable news channels.

　　Meanwhile, a couple of administration veterans – former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and former CIA director David Petraeus – have come out of political retirement to voice support for Obama’s plan to attack Syrian targets in response to Bashar al-Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons against a dozen neighborhoods around Damascus.

　　If it seems a massive and unique effort, it’s because the stakes are so high – both for Obama and for US credibility in a region torn by political unrest and violent conflict.

　　Obama isn’t the only president taking his message on Syria to the airwaves.

　　On Sunday, President Assad sat down in Damascus with Charlie Rose of CBS. The network is teasing out bits of the conversation, which will be broadcast in full Monday night on "The Charlie Rose Show" on PBS.

　　"He does accept some of the responsibility" for the Aug. 21 attack that US officials say killed 1,429 people, including 426 children, Mr. Rose said.

　　"I asked that very question: "Do you feel any remorse?' He said, 'Of course I do,' but it did not come in a way that was sort of deeply felt inside," Rose told Bob Schieffer, host of “Face the Nation.” "It was much more of a calm recitation of anybody who's a leader of a country would feel terrible about what's happened to its citizens."

　　"He had a message to the American people that it had not been a good experience for them to get involved in the Middle East in wars and conflicts … that the results had not been good," Rose said.

　　In a quick statement responding to the Assad interview, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said, "It doesn’t surprise us that someone who would kill thousands of his own people, including hundreds of children with poison gas, would also lie about it,"

　　That leaves it to Obama and his appointees to illustrate the horrific side of chemical weapons, which don’t discriminate between enemy combatants and civilians, between adults and children. And to make the case for attacking Syrian military targets, even if that’s without congressional authorization or any active allied participation.

　　That effort accelerated over the weekend with the leaking of gruesome videos showing Syrians who’d been gassed.

　　"I hope every member of Congress before he or she decides how to cast a vote will look at the videos,” White House Chief-of-Staff Denis McDonough told “Fox News Sunday.” “It´s unbelievably horrendous.”

　　On CBS's "Face the Nation" Mr. McDonough said that a "common-sense test" dictates the Syrian government is responsible for a chemical weapons attack that President Barack Obama says demands a US military response.

　　But McDonough also conceded that the administration lacks "irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence" that skeptical Americans, including lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking.

　　"This is not a court of law. And intelligence does not work that way," he said.

　　Assuming that US intelligence – and the results of a United Nations investigation expected later this month – don’t show anything more concrete linking Assad directly to the chemical attack, McDonough’s statement could make Obama’s job tougher when he goes before the American people Tuesday night.

　　And before that, it doesn’t help with skeptical lawmakers, including many of the President’s fellow Democrats.

　　“Look, I’m a big supporter of Barack Obama,” Rep. Jim McGovern, (D) of Massachusetts, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But sometimes friends can disagree.”

　　“I’m very disappointed that the administration has given up – they have given up – on the United Nations and rallying the world,” Sen. Tom Udall, (D) of New Mexico, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

　　“The American people don’t want to be embroiled in a Middle Eastern civil war,” Sen. Udall said. “We haven’t exhausted all of our political, economic and diplomatic alternatives. That’s where I want to be focusing on.”

　　在奥巴马宣布主张用武力解决对叙利亚化学武器问题之后，周一奥巴马要接受六家电台的采访。其他的政府高级官员也将接受多家电台的采访。

　　关于叙利亚的化学武器问题，美国总统奥巴马在华盛顿通过各大媒体对其进行前所未有的政治施压。

　　政府高级行政官员每天接受媒体采访。国务卿约翰里克夜以继日的游说获取盟友支持。副总任拜登负责在国会中游说他人。有人开玩笑说就连总统家的狗狗都忙着在宠物公园中游说其他的狗狗。

　　在周一总统要亲自接受六家媒体的采访，涉及到了所有的网络和新闻渠道。

　　同时，两个前国会高官——前国防部长罗伯特盖茨和前中央情报局局长大卫·佩特瑞斯也公开发表言论支持奥巴马。

　　奥巴马之所以做出这么大的努力是因为这个决定的赌注相当高——这对奥巴马本人及美国政府在政治动乱地区的公信力有很大的影响。

　　奥马巴并不是唯一一个通过媒体发表其对叙利亚问题看法的总统。

　　周日，叙利亚总统阿萨德接受了哥伦比亚电视台查理罗斯的采访。他发表的少量言论将在周一晚上通过查理罗斯秀中播出。

　　罗斯说：“他承认在8月21日的袭击美国官员的事件中负有一定责任，这次时间早上1429人死亡，其中包括426名儿童。”

　　"我问了他一个问题“你对那次时间感到难过吗?”他说，“当然，但这种难过并不是出自我内心的谴责，而是作为一个领导人对发生在自己国家的公民身上的不幸感到难过。”

　　“他曾经对美国人民说对美国来说卷入中东事件并不是一件好事，这将会对他们带来不好的结果。”罗斯说到。

　　针对阿萨德在采访中的言论，白宫国家安全委员会发言人伯纳黛特称：“一个用毒气杀死数千名自己的同胞并且包括几百名儿童的人能这样撒谎，我们并不感到惊讶。”