President Obama said he would strike, but also that he will seek authorization for the use of force from Congress.
President Barack Obama stands with Vice President Joe Biden as he makes a statement about Syria in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. (Photo by Charles Dharapak/AP)
President Obama announced Saturday that he will order U.S. military action against Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the Assad regime against his own civilians earlier this month. Obama said we “are prepared to strike whenever we choose.”
“I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets,” he said from the Rose Garden Saturday as he stood next to Vice President Joe Biden.
Obama said he already has the authority to act now but will seek Congressional authorization. Doing so, he said, makes our country stronger.
“Our security and values demand that we can’t turn away from the massacre of civilians,” in Damascus, he said.
The U.S. government disclosed evidence that it said confirmed that the Syrian government used rockets and artillery to fire a nerve agent into a Damascus suburb that is a rebel stronghold. The intelligence shows the U.S. government says, “that more than 1,400 died as a result of that attack, including more than 400 children.”
Congress is currently out of session and is not scheduled to return until Sept. 9, it was unclear how swiftly it would rush back to session.
