   United peace effort preferable to unilateral violence  United
peace effort preferable to unilateral violence  by Leslie
Bravery 12 September 2013  On Tuesday, 10 September 2013, Syria
accepted a Russian proposal to give up chemical weapons and join
the international convention (CWC) on the prohibition of such
armaments. Regardless of the civil war raging in Syria, this
endorsement of the CWC would have been welcome. It is a pity
that such an initiative did not occur to the United States
government. The next essential requirement is for the world
community to take the necessary measures to ensure that chemical
weapons can no longer fall into the hands of extremist anti-
government forces operating in Syria. World community
opposition, including the objections of his own people, to US
bombing of Syria has taken the wind out of Obama's sails. The
threats will no doubt continue but the world has learned to
mistrust US rhetoric.  Barack Obama is claiming the right to
attack Syria in the name of what he calls his