Prominent Republican ‘Hawks’ respond to President Obama’s handling of Syria situation

In the wake of President Obama’s decision Saturday to “seek Congressional approval” before instituting military action against Syria and the Assad regime, several prominent Republicans spoke about the President’s handling of the Syria situation.

Most notably was Sen John McCain (R-AZ), who said the following on CBS’s “Face the Nation” yesterday.

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“If he had acted, as Ronald Reagan did, as Bill Clinton did, as a number of other president did, in compliance basically with the War Powers act, I think that he could have done that,” McCain said. “And that would have been a decision made by the president. But at the eleventh hour, when the strikes — leaks have been massive, and unprecedented, the strikes are already planned, we know what ships are there, we know how many missiles — unprecedented leaking, then a reversal at this point I think has serious consequences as far as the steadfastness and purpose of this administration.”

McCain continued, “When the president of the United States said that it was a red line, he didn’t say that ‘it’s a red line and by the way I’m going to have to seek the approval of Congress.”

“He said it was a red line and the United States of America would act,” the senator added. “And that is a big difference. And that’s one of the reasons why this is so problematic.”

President Obama is supposed to meet with McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today to help him make the case for military action to the US Congress.

On Sunday, McCain and Graham released the following joint statement concerning the President’s remarks Saturday:

“We believe President Obama is correct that the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons requires a military response by the United States and our friends and allies. Since the President is now seeking Congressional support for this action, the Congress must act as soon as possible.

“However, we cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes in Syria that are not part of an overall strategy that can change the momentum on the battlefield, achieve the President’s stated goal of Assad’s removal from power, and bring an end to this conflict, which is a growing threat to our national security interests. Anything short of this would be an inadequate response to the crimes against humanity that Assad and his forces are committing. And it would send the wrong signal to America’s friends and allies, the Syrian opposition, the Assad regime, Iran, and the world – all of whom are watching closely what actions America will take.”

In addition, the Sunday morning shows also had NY Rep Peter King saying on “Fox News Sunday”, “And if he says this issue is — as important as it is and sending so many mixed signals over the last year and certainly over the last 10 days, this is a clear failure of leadership. If you feel so strongly about it and if you also don’t want to take action himself, then he should call us back into session tomorrow. We can’t be waiting nine, 10 days, and allowing Syria to prepare for this and send mixed signals to the world, and particularly to the Iran.

“If we can’t stop Syria on a red line with chemical weapons, how can anyone expect us to stop Iran with the red line on nuclear weapons?”

Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, and “Independent Hawk”, said on the same Sunday show, ” I was looking back myself  over the 24 years — never saw anything like it. I mean we had President Clinton acted in Bosnia and Kosovo without endorsement by Congress.

“In the 1991 go for, President Bush 41 was massing troops, ultimately over a half a million Americans. There was a debate about whether he should come to Congress for authorization. He did. It was very close. Passed in the Senate by only 52 to 47.

“But nothing like this, and nothing like this in the sense that president states the red line of the use of chemical weapons. The administration says consistently that he doesn’t have to come to Congress to take military action. Secretary Kerry on Friday in a brilliant, convincing, moving statement essentially indicts Bashar al- Assad as a mass murderer. And then the president says yesterday, let’s wait. There is a mass murderer at loose. And right, while we are waiting, he’s dispersing his critical assets. Any advantage of a surprise attack that we had in Syria is diminishing rapidly. Maybe it’s gone.”

Perhaps the most critical statement was made by former US Ambassador John Bolton Saturday on Fox News, ““This is absolutely stunning,” Bolton said. “I’ve been trying to fill in the blank of the following sentence: ‘Barack Obama is the weakest president since…’ And I have to say, the best I can come up with is James Buchanan who watched the country dissolve into the Civil War. We’re watching the collapse of American influence in the Middle East.”