The United States moved one step closer to conducting a military strike against the regime of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to give the Obama administration approval for a strike 10-7, according to the New York Times.
The resolution gives the Obama administration the authority to act punitively toward Assad's government for the use of chemical weapons in an attack that killed over 1,400 Syrians. In a sign of an attempt to avoid a quagmire in Syria that is similar to what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan the resolution strictly limits the military to a 60 day window for attacks and prevents American soldiers from ever setting foot on the ground in the war-torn country, according to USA Today.
The vote had some bipartisan support with 3 Republicans (Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and John McCain, R-Ariz.) voting for the bill and two Democrats (Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Christopher Murphy, D-Conn.) voting against it. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., voted present in the first major vote since he was elected via special election to replace John Kerry, according to the Washington Post.
Notably voting against the bill were potential Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. By voting against the strike the two senators will be able to campaign that they are on the record as opposing the military action which will likely force other potential candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to vote similarly, according to the Washington Post.
In explaining his vote against the resolution Rubio said that he believes that a limited strike would embolden Assad, perhaps suggesting that Rubio would support a more significant military intervention.
"I believe U.S. military action of the type contemplated here might prove to be counterproductive," Rubio told the Associated Press. "After a few days of missile strikes, it will allow Assad, for example, to emerge and claim that he took on the United States and survived."
Secretary of State John Kerry is spending a second day testifying in front of a House committee as he attempts to convince the lower house of the legislature to support military action. Cognizant of the war fatigue many legislators have Kerry continues to suggest that the strikes will be limited and approving of them is not tantamount to approving a war, according to the Associated Press.
"I don't believe we're going to war, I just don't believe that," Kerry said. "That's not what we're doing here. The president is asking for permission to take a limited military action, yes, but one that does not put Americans in the middle of the battle."
Paul, a Tea Party favorite who is almost as strongly anti-war as his father Ron is, has threatened a filibuster to attempt to prevent the passage of the resolution when it comes to a Senate vote; although Paul has conceded that the votes to pass the resolution are likely there and he has turned his attention to defeating the resolution in the House, according to the Associated Press.
President Barack Obama, speaking at a news conference in Sweden prior to traveling to Russia for the G20 Summit, once again asserted that the world has an obligation to act against Assad for his use of chemical weapons, according to the National Post.
"I didn't set a red line, the world set a red line," President Obama said. "The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent."
