Obama has no 'intention' to strike Syria if Congress says no, says aide

Yahoo ^

[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 it’s neither his desire, nor his intention, to use that authority absent Congress backing him,” Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken told NPR.

Blinken’s 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, we’re 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.

[kcvl]

“I can’t keep up on the all the revisions.... “

I can’t either!

Obama refused to answer the question if he would act without approval of Congress when asked this morning in his ‘press conference’.

[Eva]

I guess that you haven’t been reading the Drudge report about the video that has surfaced and the Russian report. I also suppose that you don’t know that the Obama administration blocked a Russian request that the UN Security Council condemn an attack on a Syrian City that killed 100 people and injured 250 that is alleged to have been perpetrated by the rebels. This news, combined with the Russian report on the earlier Sarin gas use by the rebels is turning opinion in WA DC.

[kcvl]

Antony John 'Tony' Blinken has been the Assistant to the President of the United States and Deputy National Security Adviser for President Barack Obama, since January 25, 2013.

Blinken is married to Evan Ryan, Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison for Vice President Joseph R. Biden since November 2008.

[Dick Cinnamon]

John ‘Tony’ Blumpkin?

[PghBaldy]

Isn’t it interesting the NSA is out of the news, after it was the number one news story for a while, even though stories keep coming out about it? I guess now that Ed Snowden and Russia have shown Obama’s weakness, Syria needed to be made into the number one story.

[sweetiepiezer]

lol

[VerySadAmerican]

Winkin’, Blinken and Nod. Blinken is saying what he’s convinced obama will do. However, obama hasn’t taken a walk with Winkin’ or Nod yet so that could change.

I have to wonder if obama is not ratching it up a notch hoping to get more “no” votes. If congress doesn’t vote, he’ll say they’re cowards. And he’d be right.

I’d rather see congress provide obama cover by keeping us out of a war than provide cover for him by helping him start one.

[Hoodat]

This aide directly contradicts what Obama said. Somebody needs to pull the Iranian Valerie Jarret out in front of a microphone to tell us what she is really going to do.

[willywill]

“You mean he changed his mind again?
Or is it he was not going to before he was going to now not going to do what he said he was going to do”

lol, he was for the bombing before he was against it

[Lazamataz]

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.

EXCELLENT analysis. Matt, check this out.

[ops33]

Of course he doesn’t have any intention of striking if Congress says no. That was the whole point of going to Congress, they would say no and that would give him a way out.

[Fred Hayek]

To the Party Secretary I say “BOVINE SCAT”.

[SisterK]

Article this morning said the vote is scheduled for Sept.11...
A little bit of human sacrifice before the vote would send us into war, with public support. Plus a war right now would do wonders for our economy.

[jaydubya2]

Thanks, thats interesting.