As talks continue about the situation in Syria, Congressman Chris Smith (R-4) wants the UN Security Council to establish a war crimes tribunal to hold President Bashar al Assad and others accountable for the use of chemical weapons. Smith told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that he believes President Barack Obama made a mistake by threatening force in the region and wants other measures pursued.

    Smith said the international community has created successful tribunals in the past and believes the UN would consider it. “If the United States won’t lead perhaps one of the other nations will,” he said, adding that he envisions a tribunal about Syrian war crimes would punish anyone on either side of the conflict who committed atrocities.

  As negotiations continue in Geneva, Smith said Americans have to be realistic and realize that many of the chemical weapons are scattered. “There’s deep concerns that Hezbollah, the terrorist organization, may have ownership of some of those. So the idea that you’re just gonna get rid of them all could take months, maybe even years, but certainly months because of the fact that they are in different areas,” Smith said. “Plus the sincerity factor. Can we really believe Assad and now he’s adding new conditions as to whether or not he’ll cough up these horrible weapons of mass destruction.”

  Smith said chemical weapons need to be destroyed. “I believe that the idea of the war crimes tribunal and a very aggressive nonstop effort at a diplomatic solution is what’s in order. I’m very concerned that the president’s idea of bombing could unleash all kinds of unexpected scenarios, including huge numbers of civilian casualties,” he said.

  Smith opposes the use of force in Syria and questions whether Obama should have made statements about that possibility. “If you threat, you gotta be willing to use it. You never make an idle threat or say this is all about a threat,” he said. “There is not support in the U.S. House of Representatives for the use of force. I believe you never make a threat that you’re not wiling to carry out. If this is all that’s about, the president made a mistake. But I think he wants to use force and was all ready to do it. This would’ve already happened. And again, there could’ve been catastrophic consequences.”

  Because of what’s transpired since Obama made statements about taking military action, Smith said the world may no longer believe the threat is real. “I think already those on the other side of this, whether it be Putin or Assad, know that the threat has dissipated by the fact that the U.S. House of Representatives and probably the Senate as well and certainly the American people are not in favor of this,” Smith said. “So it was a wrong headed idea to make it sound like force was imminent, about to happen unless you’re willing to carry it through as commander in chief. And plus I would say with all due respect to the president, he is the commander in chief not the punisher in chief.”

  Smith also said that while Obama has said there would be no boots on the ground, there’s always the possibility that could happen. Smith said it was a good move for Obama to let members of Congress weigh in. “But the threat talk that I think was very real by the president early on, there should’ve been consultations with Congress long before that was done,” he said.