House Hearing on Syria Gets Contentious
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Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Obama administration officials led by Secretary of State John Kerry went before the House Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday to lay out the White House case for military strikes against Syria.
Much as he did before a Senate panel Tuesday, Kerry explained the rationale for punishing Bashar al-Assad’s regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons two weeks ago that left 1,400 people dead in an east Damascus suburb.
Kerry compared the attack to the Nazi slaughter of Jews during World War II and that by doing nothing, it would be comparable to the early appeasement of German dictator Adolf Hitler.
When South Carolina Republican Congressman Jeff Duncan objected, Kerry remarked, “If we don’t vote to do this Assad will interpret from you that he’s free to go and do this any day he wants to. That’s what this is about, not getting involved in Syria’s civil war.”
Kerry became visibly angry when Duncan brought up last year terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, telling the secretary, “Four Americans lost their lives. I have sympathy for the people in Syria, and I do think there should be a worldwide response but we should act cautiously.”
Snapping back, Kerry said, “We are acting cautiously.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also had his hands full with Pennsylvania Republican Tom Marino who questioned the wisdom of a limited strike against Syria and what it would ultimately accomplish.
Growing emotional, Marino worried about the U.S. becoming involved in an escalating conflict, telling Hagel, “Soldiers coming home deformed and limbless and even in a body bag is not acceptable to me and therefore I cannot and will not vote for this intervention in Syria.”
Hagel responded that the Senate resolution that was passed Wednesday, “Specifically notes that no boots would be on the ground.”
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