Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) and Democratic candidates Shaughnessy Naughton and Kevin Strouse weighed in last week on U.S. involvement in the ongoing Syrian rebellion.
Fitzpatrick said that chemical weapons must be “unequivocally” condemned by the international community, but that the president has “constitutional and legal requirements” to consult Congress before taking action.
“In making his case, the President must be clear with Congress — and the country- -about his proposal,” Fitzpatrick said. “What is the critical national objective? What are the military metrics of success? How can the President guarantee that his proposed military response would be a limited, punitive strike? What resources will be dedicated to the humanitarian issues associated with an escalation in violence?”
He said that his vote on the issue will reflect the skepticism and reluctance that he believes many of his constituents feel about a strike on Syria.
Naughton, a publisher and former scientist who was endorsed last week by the Women’s Campaign Fund and Women Under 40 PAC, said that she, too, felt the president needed to make his case.
“The President is making the right move going to the Congress,” Naughton said in a statement to the Wire. “While the charges against the Syrian government are very serious, and the humanitarian crisis is deplorable, there are still a number of questions that need to be answered before the US intervenes, including what exactly we expect to achieve and how will the President ensure that American military personnel will not be put directly in harm’s way?”
Strouse, a combat veteran and former CIA official, said that he supported the president’s efforts to “build consensus in the international community and respond to the atrocities in Syria.”
In a statement to the Wire, Strouse said that his time as an Army Ranger in Iraq made him weigh military intervention with caution.
“The objectives in Syria must stay clear: degrade Assad’s capacity to conduct these kinds of attacks, and deter the Assad regime and other dictators from using these weapons in the future.”
— Ted Bordelon
