By Jesse Wood
Sept. 2, 2013. President Barrack Obama recently announced that he will seek congressional approval before launching a limited military assault against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a chemical weapons attack that the U.S State Department says killed 1,429 people – including at least 426 children.
While Secretary of State John Kerry said the al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons in “undeniable,” al-Assad has maintained that his government did not carry out the attack. Speaking to a Russian newspaper, Assad said that Islamist rebels, which are engaged in a more than two-year conflict against the Syrian government, are behind the chemical weapons attack that occurred on Aug. 21 to draw other forces into the ongoing civil war.
Here is what the High Country’s representatives in the U.S. Congress have recently said about the matter:
U.S Rep. Virginia Foxx
Aug. 31, 2013. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) today issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s announcement regarding Syria:
“Today President Obama announced his intention to seek Congressional authorization for military action in Syria in response to the Assad Regime’s recent escalation to the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian People.
“The President is right to seek congressional authorization prior to any military engagement in Syria. In fact, my Republican colleagues and I have been demanding this from the White House.
“The onus is on the President to make the case to Congress and to the American people for his desired military response and answer why he believes it is in the United States’ national interest to involve itself in Syria’s ongoing violence. As always, my vote on the matter will be based on a careful evaluation of the facts presented by the President and on the actual legislative text we are asked to approve.”
U.S Sen. Kay Hagan
Aug. 31, 2013. U.S. Senator Kay Hagan today released the following statement on President Obama’s decision to seek Congressional approval for military intervention in Syria:
“It is shocking and deplorable that the Assad regime would use chemical weapons on its own people, and the international community cannot allow this to happen without serious consequences. I believe seeking Congressional authority is the appropriate way forward. Without putting American troops on the ground, the atrocities in Syria require a strong response that will prevent them from happening again and ensure that Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile does not fall into the hands of terrorists and further destabilize the Middle East.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr Addresses Syria
Aug. 28, 2013. “Civilized people should be outraged by the deaths of thousands of Syrian civilians and the many more who have been maimed in this horrible civil war. The Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against civilians is morally repugnant and violates long held standards of conduct. Short of putting troops on the ground, it is time for the United States and our NATO allies to take necessary, punitive military action against the Syrian regime and send a clear signal to its leadership, and others in the region who may be contemplating using weapons of this nature, that there are consequences for these actions.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows
Aug. 29, 2013. While Meadows hasn’t released a statement on the issue, the Lenoir News-Topic reported that Meadows commented about the Syrian conflict at a fundraiser luncheon with the Caldwell County Republican Party on Aug. 29.
While criticizing the Obama administration’s foreign policy, saying that, “You need to stand for something and stand firm,” Meadows went on to say, indirectly, that “he does not support U.S. intervention in Syria, where a civil war has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the government troops have been accused of using poison gas on civilians. Meadows said he thinks Syria, which is made up of a number of ethnic and religious groups that have an uneasy past, is destined to dissolve into three separate countries.”
Read entire Lenoir News-Topic article here.
Meadows was also among 100-plus members of U.S. Congress who penned a letter saying that Obama needed to seek Congressional approval before striking Syria.
“Engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution,” states the letter.
This letter was signed on Aug. 29, two days before Obama announced that he would indeed seek Congressional approval. For more info about this letter, click here.
