The Obama administration will push forward and strike Syria, as a senate panel authorized the use of force. The Senate Foreign Relation Committee voted 10-7 and approved a military response to the nerve gas chemical weapon attack that happened last month. The military strike will happen in a matter of time, according to Fox News. The Senate will return from their summer recess to “file the resolution” and vote “in the full chamber as early as next Wednesday.”
Senator John McCain had objected to an earlier draft and had worked with lawmakers to renegotiate. He helped to clarify U.S. policy and voted for the final resolution, after adding two amendments. McCain commented, “these amendments are vital to ensuring that any U.S. military operations in Syria are part of a broader strategy to change the momentum on the battlefield in Syria. That strategy must degrade the military capabilities of the Assad regime while upgrading the military capabilities of moderate Syrian opposition forces. These amendments would put the Congress on the record that this is the policy of the United States, as President Obama has assured me it is.”
Not everyone was on board, several members of congress voted against the use of force. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida commented that he remained “unconvinced that the use of force proposed here would work.” The republican senator also mentioned that the Syrian people have to remove Assad from power, if they want to make sure that he never uses chemical weapons on them again.
The resolution that congress approved would allow the U.S. a “limited military mission” in Syria that doesn’t exceed 90 days and with no American troops. Secretary of State John Kerry warned that if the U.S. doesn’t respond to the chemical weapons strike that America’s enemies would just be fearless and use WMDs or chemical weapons again without caring about the political consequences or human cost.