US 'no option' but to order Syria strike, says former State Department official

Former US ambassador says Barack Obama must take action in Syria or "it will be a disaster fot the United States, a disaster for Syria and a disaster for the whole region".

The former US ambassador to Bahrain, Adam Ereli, believes the US would lose credibility if it failed to act over chemical weapons in Syria. Phil Weymouth / AFP

DUBAI // The United States president has no option but to order a missile strike on Syria, according to a senior diplomat.
Adam Ereli, the former US ambassador to Bahrain, believes Barack Obama must act over the use of chemical weapons.
"First of all, Obama made it clear that he wants to act. He doesn't want Bashar [Al Assad, the Syrian president] and the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons with nothing done about it, but he also wants America to be united in this action," Mr Ereli said.
"That's why he asked Congress to vote on it although he does not constitutionally need that.
"Will he get it? I hope so because if he doesn't it will be a disaster for the United States, a disaster for Syria and a disaster for the whole region."
If no action against Syria is taken, Mr Ereli said the US would lose its credibility as a super power and the confidence of its key alies.
"It will be a disaster for Syria because Bashar will be encouraged to take further action beyond any convention or normalcy and violate every law made to man in order to win," he said.
"If no action is taken, nobody will depend on the US any more. You have got threats from Iran, you have got threats from Syria, you have got threats from terrorism, and we all need partnerships where we can depend on each other. If we can't depend on the US then that's terrible."
Mr Ereli, now a diplomatic consultant, will be in the UAE next week to meet officials in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
"US national security interests are not directly affected by Bashar, but we all know of the detrimental effect this has on the region, which ultimately affects us," Mr Ereli said.
He said the opposition to Mr Al Assad's regime had hindered itself by not presenting its plight to the American public.
"When someone in America hears about the Syrian opposition, all that comes to mind is a bearded man eating the heart out of a Syrian Army soldier," he said.
"The Syrian opposition need people to speak to the American public to engage them and explain the situation. There is no one speaking to them or putting the case forward."
The former ambassador, who also worked in Cairo for the US state department, said that while the situation in Egypt could be described as a military coup by some, it was justified.
"It does not matter what you want to call it but was it justified, I think so," he said.
"People should understand that Egypt has established political institutions like the military and judiciary. Was a democratically-elected president removed from power by the military? Yes. Are there people in jail? Yes.
"But what Morsi [Egypt's removed president] was doing was fragmenting Egypt and what the military is doing is trying to reset an institutional government in place."
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