Posted on 09/06/2013 6:44:25 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obama has no 'intention' to strike Syria if Congress says no, says aide
Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News 35 minutes ago
Will President Barack Obama order military strikes on Syria even if Congress rejects using force? Asked that hugely consequential question on Friday, a senior White House official strongly suggested that the answer is no.
The president, of course, has the authority to act. But its neither his desire, nor his intention, to use that authority absent Congress backing him, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken told NPR.
Blinkens comments lent weight to a New York Times report published Friday that cited unnamed officials as saying that Obama views going to war if Congress says no as almost unthinkable and even a potential trigger for impeachment proceedings against him. Blinken also played down the prospects that American military strikes on Syria would result in retaliatory attacks against America by Syria or its patron Iran or the Iran-aligned Hezbollah Islamist militia but could not completely rule it out.
We spend a lot of time, when we think about these things, trying to game out every possible contingency, every possible unintended consequence. And no one can give you a 100% guarantee, he told NPR.
We work to make sure that If anyone tries to do anything to escalate, were in a position to respond -- but our best assessment, including by our intelligence community, is that none of these countries have an incentive to pick a fight with the United States, the official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Interestingly, if he had acted quickly on Benghazi he would appeared “tough”, and he could have done it without Congress.
I guess the Vegas fundraiser was more important at the time...
Basically. He will - I repeat absolutely definitely positively WILL - get what he wants on Syria. I’ll be astounded if he doesn’t. But what he must have is someone to blame at least semi-believably.
I see reports of Iran planning to attack our embassy in Iraq. Maybe he just orders an attack of Iran instead, skipping the Syrian next-step altogether?
LOL, do you know what this sounds like to me? ............... “Congress, get me outa this mess, please!” He should have stayed in Chicago as a community organizer.
I just HEARD Obama say the opposite. He said he would “rather” have the support of Congress.
now he’s gonna speak and tell us that Russia is bad and he is good. Diplomacy of a rat.
BINGO!!! We have a winner!!!! Distraction from the obamacare vote!!!
Waiting to hear that the US will withdraw from UN because it no longer serves its’ purpose.
Need more false flags and red paint
We are beginning to see a pattern that will continue with Obama. He will not take military action and the reason is simple. He is afraid someone in the military will again challenge his eligibility as Commander N Chief as they have done before. The big difference now is the White House has since released a known fraudulent birth certificate the the evidence is there to prove it. They are afraid Sheriff Joe would be on the witness list for the defense, and he most certainly would.
In the end I think the Republicans will cover for Obama and authorize some sort of action in Syria. The Republicans have through their own inaction committed themselves to backing Obama.
The president, of course, has the authority to act.”
I heard that quote on NPR this morning and was rather irritated.
I think when push comes to shove, the House will vote for war (as will the Senate).
Lets hope Im wrong.
As you and I both know, the house is not a single entity. Each one is an individual representitive with his/her own constituency to which they have to answer. As one congressman put it, and I paraphrase, when 97% of your constituency says no, it’s hard to say yes.
The whole nation of the represented are so against this, and in sugh huge numbers, that I believe that the only way any single representative could change his vote to support Obama is if something so gawdawful happened that the constituency wanted it. That depends on some still unknown future event.
I think the only other way Obama could get enough support from the house is if he could somehow convince him there is another card on the table that can’t be shared with the public - some very real nuke on American soil type of thing. What this means to me is that if the House supports him without any shift in the public perspective, something VERY, VERY bad is afoot.
I just HEARD Obama say the opposite. He said he would rather have the support of Congress.
Imagine him going in without the support of congress and no international coalition - and it goes south.
I would not want to be him.
And bonner, who is siding with ‘bummer on bombing, wins by default.
We must all demand they vote. It should have nothing to do with how it ‘make the pres. - or anyone else ‘look.” Is that the new criteria for voting?
We need the vote now more that ever ‘cause we need the names of those who need to be voted OUT!
“Need more red paint? “
Plus more white paint to try and cover up his previous red lines as he retreats behind a series of NEW red lines.
Going to Congress was simply a ploy to save face since Obama knew they’d never approve this. Now he can say: “Not my fault. Congress won’t let me. It’s THEIR fault. I’m blameless. As usual. Because I’m perfect and never make mistakes. Ever.”
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