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Syria: Obama gaining support for military strike
U.S. President Barack Obama has signed up power brokers in Congress for strikes on Syria but, in an era of insurgent politics haunted by Iraq, there is no guarantee the rank and file will follow.
Obama, who has arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia for the G20 conference, mobilized his big political and military guns Wednesday to convince lawmakers to back his plan to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over a chemical weapons attack.
The White House can already boast two significant victories.
On Tuesday, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor, who more normally torment the president, gave robust support to his strategy. Then, on Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations committee voted by 10 members to seven to authorize action in Syria, albeit under tighter rules of engagement than the White House had requested.
“None of us want the U.S. mired down in another conflict, so the committee has significantly limited the president’s original authorization, while still providing for an appropriate use of force in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker.
But for Obama to collect on the huge gamble he made in seeking congressional backing for attacks in Syria, he must win over lower ranking lawmakers who, unlike their leaders, are more concerned with their political skins than US standing in the world.
War weariness stalks America, and votes to authorize action in Syria, likely to begin next week, are tough ones – especially for House and Senate lawmakers up for re-election in 2014.
