Speaking during a UN Security Council debate on Syria on Monday, American UN Representative Susan Rice admonished the body as a “colossal failure” on the issue of protecting Syrian civilians from the ferocity of President Bashar Al-Asad’s forces. Rice said that during the year-and-a-half that the Security Council “has not been willing to protect the Syrian people from the brutal actions of their government, [the actions of the government have] grown ever more reprehensible and ever more dangerous to international peace and security.” Rice called for the imposition of more sanctions, but made no allusion to moving in the direction of military intervention against Al-Asad similar to that the Western nations undertook against the late Mu’amar Al-Qaddafi in Libya. The US is said to be collaborating with the UK and France on a new set of sanctions as the death toll moved past the 15,000 mark. Meanwhile, UN diplomats are quoted as saying the observer force is going to be cut back from its present level of 300 next month. When the force was initiated, UN officials were heard to say a force of 3,000 would be more realistic.