Ron DeSantis Opposes Attack on Syria

After listening to testimony from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this week, U.S. Rep.Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., announced on Wednesday he would oppose military action against Syria. DeSantis sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

I do not support authorizing President Obama to use military force in the Syrian civil war at this time, DeSantis said on Wednesday. The Obama administration has not articulated a clear objective for using military force in Syria, much less a plan to achieve that objective. This is all the more problematic given the realities of a Syrian civil war in which Assads dictatorship (supported by Iran and Hezbollah) is fighting so-called rebels that are populated with Sunni Islamic supremacists and al-Qaida fighters.

In other words, the United States does not have an interest in assisting either side of the conflict or in refereeing a civil war among these warring anti-American factions, DeSantis added. Moreover, there is a danger that an ill-planned or half-hearted American attack could make it easier for terrorist groups to obtain the very type of chemical weapons that al-Qaida and other groups have long sought to use against America.