Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel listens at right as Secretary of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to advance President Barack Obama’s request for congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria, a response to last month’s alleged sarin gas attack in the Syrian civil war. Lawmakers are returning a week early from recess for the first public hearing about U.S. plans for military action to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad as President Obama seeks to convince skeptical Americans and their representatives to act following the deadly gas attack outside Damascus. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel listens at right as Secretary of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to advance President Barack Obama’s request for congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria, a response to last month’s alleged sarin gas attack in the Syrian civil war. Lawmakers are returning a week early from recess for the first public hearing about U.S. plans for military action to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad as President Obama seeks to convince skeptical Americans and their representatives to act following the deadly gas attack outside Damascus. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President Barack Obama, flanked by House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks to media in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, before a meeting with members of Congress to discuss the situation in Syria. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, as they testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to advance President Barack Obama’s request for congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria, a response to last month’s alleged sarin gas attack in the Syrian civil war. Lawmakers are returning a week early from recess for the first public hearing about U.S. plans for military action to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad as President Obama seeks to convince skeptical Americans and their representatives to act following the deadly gas attack outside Damascus. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, following a meeting between President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders to discuss the situation in Syria. Boehner said he will support President Barack Obama’s call for the U.S. to take action against Syria for alleged chemical weapons use and says his Republican colleagues should support the president, too. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., left, confers with committee member Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, during the committee’s hearing on President Barack Obama’s request for congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria, a response to last month’s alleged sarin gas attack in the Syrian civil war. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
| Buy AP Photo Reprints | ||
|
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an impassioned appeal for support both at home and abroad, President Barack Obama says the credibility of the international community and Congress is on the line in the debate over to a response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria. As Obama made his case overseas during a visit to Sweden, his proposal for military intervention was under consideration by skeptical House members at home.
Asked about his past comments drawing a “red line” against the use of chemical weapons, Obama said it was a line that had first been clearly drawn with the chemical weapons treaty ratified by countries around the world and ratified by Congress.
He declared, quote, “That wasn’t something I made up. didn’t pluck it out of thin air. There’s a reason for it.”
The president said there was far more than his own credibility at stake in responding to the chemical weapons attack.
“I didn’t set a red line, the world set a red line,” he said. “The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of world population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent.” He added that Congress set its own red line when it ratified the treaty.
With Obama in Europe, his top national security aides were to participate Wednesday in public and private hearings at the Capitol to advance their case for limited strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime in retaliation for what the administration says was a deadly sarin gas attack by his forces outside Damascus last month.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee could vote on authorizing the use of force as early as Wednesday, the first in a series of votes as the president’s request makes its way through Senate and House committees before coming before the two chambers for a final vote.
___
Pace reported from Stockholm, Sweden. Associated Press writers David Espo, Josh Lederman, Donna Cassata, Alan Fram, Jennifer C. Kerr and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
Obama: Congress, world credibility on line
No comments:
Post a Comment