U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley slammed Russia's continued supprt for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the UN Security Council Wednesday following yesterday's chemical weapons attack in Syria.
"Yesterday morning we awoke to pictures of children foaming at the mouth, suffering convulsions, being carried in the arms of desperate parents," Haley said in a speech to the Security Council.
"We cannot close our eyes to these pictures, we cannot close our minds to the responsibility to act."
She said that world powers had tried to hold the Assad regime responsible for its crimes against its own people, but “Russia stood in the way of this accountability, they made an unconscionable choice.”
“How many more children have to die before Russia cares?” she asked.
She added that the failure to stop the carnage in Syria is an indictment of the failure of the UN to protect innocents,
"There are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action. We regularly repeat tired taking points in support of a peace process that is regularly undermined by the Assad regime,” she said.
“If we’re not able to enforce resolutions preventing use of chemical weapons what does that say for our chance of ending the broader conflict in Syria? What does that say of our ability to bring relief to the Syrian people?” if we are not able to enforce resolutions preventing the use of chemical weapons what does that say about our effectiveness in this institution?”