President Obama announces that he has decided in favor of military action against the Syrian regime in response to its murderous use of chemical weapons, but will first seek the approval of Congress.
Clearly Obama is taking a risk. He acknowledged what happened in the UK House of Commons this week:
I’m confident in the case our government has made without waiting for U.N. inspectors. I’m comfortable going forward without the approval of a United Nations Security Council that, so far, has been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable. As a consequence, many people have advised against taking this decision to Congress, and undoubtedly, they were impacted by what we saw happen in the United Kingdom this week when the Parliament of our closest ally failed to pass a resolution with a similar goal, even as the Prime Minister supported taking action.
I think Congress will go along, but the debate should be fascinating. How many Republicans will revert to old-style isolationism? Is Rand Paul today’s Robert Taft?
I agree with Michael Weiss.
If Congress says no, Russia, Iran and Assad will have learned an invaluable lesson about how to get away with mass murder.
— michaeldweiss (@michaeldweiss) August 31, 2013
