Obama Says Plane Was Shot Down From Rebel-Held Ukraine Area WASHINGTON — President Obama said Friday that the United States believed that a Malaysian jetliner was shot down by surface-to-air missiles from an area inside Ukraine that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists. In remarks at the White House, Mr. Obama said the nearly 300 lives taken in the plane crash were an “outrage of unspeakable proportions” and a “global tragedy.” He vowed to investigate exactly what happened to end the lives of “men, women, children, infants who had nothing to do with the crisis” in that region. Among the dead was at least one American, Quinn Lucas Schansman, a dual United States-Dutch citizen. “We are going to make sure the truth is out,” Mr. Obama said. The president called the downing of the plane an “outrageous” event and said that it should underscore for people around the world that “it is time for peace” in the region. Mr. Obama said that the United States would “continue to lead efforts in the international community to de-escalate” the situation between Ukraine and Russia, but he did not announce any further sanctions against Russia. The president said the violence in the region must not get in the way of an independent investigation of the plane’s destruction and he called on Russia, Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists to agree to an immediate cease-fire. “Evidence must not be tampered with,” Mr. Obama said. “Investigators need to access the crash site. And the solemn task of returning those who were lost onboard the plane to their loved ones needs to go forward immediately.” Mr. Obama resisted blaming the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, personally, saying that the American government does not know exactly who fired the missile that took down the passenger airliner. But he made clear that he held the Russians responsible for failing to stop the violence that made the downing possible. “We know that they are heavily armed and they are trained,” Mr. Obama said. “That is not an accident. That is happening because of Russian support.” He said it was “not possible for these separatists to be functioning the way they are” without Russian support. The president said that the downing of the plane was a direct result of the violence in the region, and that violence had been “facilitated in large part because of Russian support.” Mr. Obama threatened further punitive actions beyond the sanctions announced on Wednesday if Russia fails to halt its backing for the separatists. “We will continue to make clear that as Russia engages in efforts that are supporting the separatists that we have the capacity to increase the costs that we impose on them — and we will do so,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Obama said that Mr. Putin could decide not to allow heavy armaments or troops to flow across the border from Russia into Ukraine. If Mr. Putin does that, he said, “then it will stop.” Mr. Obama said it was too early to know whether those who fired the missile intended to take down a commercial airliner, or whether they meant to hit a military target. Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story “It’s too early for us to guess the intentions of those who launched the missile,” the president said. “We have confidence in saying that shot was taken within territory that is controlled by Russian separatists.” The message from the White House about the downing of the plane has become steadily more assertive as the hours have passed. Mr. Obama’s first comments, at the beginning of a speech on Thursday afternoon on the need for more infrastructure spending, noted only that there “may be a terrible tragedy,” and he said the United States would work to determine what happened. The president made no mention of Russia. By the time Mr. Obama landed back in Washington on Thursday night, the White House had issued a much more aggressive statement from Josh Earnest, the press secretary. The statement focused on Russia’s role in the creation of what Mr. Earnest called “the context” of the current situation. “This incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fueled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, matériel and training,” Mr. Earnest wrote. The statement called on Russia to “take concrete steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and to support a sustainable cease-fire and path toward peace that the Ukrainian government has consistently put forward.” “This should snap everybody’s head to attention,” Mr. Obama said of the international community. “We don’t have time for propaganda. We don’t have time for games.” In taking a more public posture, Mr. Obama joins his ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, who on Friday morning criticized Russia for not doing more to end the separatist movement in Ukraine. Ms. Power, speaking at the United Nations, said the missile that brought down the Malaysian plane was probably shot from territory the separatists control. The president, buffeted by an extraordinary confluence of international crises this week, also expressed support for the Israeli assault on Gaza that began on Thursday, even as he cautioned about the risks of civilian casualties. In a telephone call on Friday morning with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mr. Obama said he reaffirmed my strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself. “No nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunneling into its territory,” Mr. Obama said, noting that during the call, sirens were blaring in Tel Aviv, signaling an impending rocket blast. But he also said the United States and its allies were “deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and the loss of more innocent life,” and said his understanding was that Israel’s military operation was limited to targeting Hamas’s network of underground tunnels. “We are hopeful that Israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties,” Mr. Obama said. He said Secretary of State John Kerry was prepared to travel to the region “following additional consultations” to support Egypt’s efforts to broker a cease-fire. nytimes/2014/07/19/us/obama-to-speak-about-downing-of-malaysian-plane.html?_r=0
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 19:26:49 +0000