Rep. DeSantis: No to Intervention in Syria

Statement

Rep. Ron DeSantis (FL-06) -- a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs -- attended today's hearing on Syria, where he heard testimony from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey. Rep. DeSantis issued the following statement:

"I do not support authorizing President Obama to use military force in the Syrian civil war at this time. The Obama administration has not articulated a clear objective for using military force in Syria, much less a plan to achieve that objective. This is all the more problematic given the realities of a Syrian civil war in which Assad's dictatorship (supported by Iran and Hezbollah) is fighting so-called rebels that are populated with Sunni Islamic supremacists and Al Qaeda fighters.

In other words, the United States does not have an interest in assisting either side of the conflict or in refereeing a civil war amongst these warring anti-American factions. Moreover, there is a danger that an ill-planned or half-hearted American attack could make it easier for terrorist groups to obtain the very type of chemical weapons that Al Qaeda and other groups have long sought to use against America."

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