April
30,
2013
President
Barack
Obama
The
White
House
1600
Pennsylvania
Avenue
Washington,
DC
20500
Dear
Mr.
President,
As
your
administration
has
recently
concluded,
the
Assad
regime
used
chemical
weapons
against
opposition
forces
and
the
civilian
population
in
Syria
on
at
least
three
separate
occasions
in
recent
weeks.
These
are
unassailable
facts.
The
Regime's
history
of
desensitizing
the
international
community
to
its
gradual
use
of
internationally
banned
weapons
has
led
me
to
the
alarming
conclusion
that
these
incidents
are
but
a
prelude
to
a
larger
and
more
systematic
deployment
of
chemical
weapons
as
part
of
Assads
military
strategy.
The
Supreme
Military
Council
of
the
FSA
values
your
statements
regarding
the
use
of
chemical
weapons
in
Syria.
We
appreciate,
as
you
noted
today
at
your
press
conference,
the
critical
importance
that
facts
will
play
in
your
analysis.
However,
I
respectfully
submit
to
you
that
Assad
is
not
taking
your
carefully
phrased
condemnations
as
warnings,
but
as
loopholes,
which
justify
his
continued
use
of
chemical
weapons
on
a
small,
strategic
scale.
As
the
world
has
seen,
there
is
no
limit
to
the
cruelty
that
Assad
will
employ
to
deny
the
Syrian
people
their
freedom.
There
is
no
limit
to
the
number
of
men,
women
and
children
he
will
kill,
arrest,
or
torture;
towns
he
will
destroy;
and
families
he
will
force
to
flee
their
homes.
At
first
firing
upon
peaceful
protestors,
then
using
hired
goons,
Assad
has
gradually
resorted
to
air
raids,
Scud
missiles,
and
now
chemical
agents
to
intimidate
and
terrorize
his
people.
Mr.
President,
I
understand
the
reasons
behind
your
cautious
involvement
in
Syria.
But
I
hope
you
will
not
discount
the
imperatives
urging
the
free
world
to
assist
us
in
protecting
our
people.
We
desperately
need
your
support,
as
the
Free
Syrian
Army
under
my
command
has
neither
the
requisite
training
nor
equipment
to
counter
the
effects
of
Assad's
chemical
weapons
or
to
destroy
them.
I
wish
to
emphasize
that
our
future
Free
Syria
will
not
need
weapons
of
mass
destruction,
and
that
such
senseless
weapons
will
not
be
welcome
on
her
soil.
We
are
committed
to
help
the
international
community
in
its
efforts
to
rid
the
Middle
East
of
these
weapons.
Mr.
President,
now
that
Assad
has
crossed
your
red
line
as
he
had
crossed
many
before,
we
are
calling
upon
you
to
help
us
rid
Syria
and
the
world
of
this
cruel
dictator
and
his
dangerous
chemical
weapons.
Respectfully,
General
Salim
Idris
Chief
of
Staff,
Supreme
Military
Council
Free
Syrian
Army