WASHINGTON, D.C. — Third District Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV) says he thinks a limited U.S. military strike on Syria is appropriate.
“It has to be a surgical strike. It has to be a penetrating strike at the sites of high value from which this chemical warfare was launched. It has to be very limited in scope with no boots on the ground,” said Rahall on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Reports on Wednesday indicated U.S. officials were still working to design a military strike to deter future chemical weapons attacks in Syria as assessments of the possible response from Syrian President Bashar Assad to such a strike also continued.
By many accounts, U.S. officials would likely utilize cruise missiles from U.S. Navy destroyers off the Syrian coast in any response.
“I think it sends a message that the U.S. credibility, once it has been stated and once our position has clearly been drawn in the sand, if you want to use that term, or red line, or whatever terms that are out there that the President has already used, that we back it up with our actions,” said Rahall.
He said, if President Obama decides to authorize a strike, he will have to make the case for it to Congress, the United Nations and the American people.
Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would propose a resolution at the United Nations blaming Syrian authorities for the chemical weapons attack an authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians.
Hundreds of Syrian citizens were killed in an August 21 chemical attack and the Syrian government was the suspected source of the chemical weapons. The civil war in Syria has been going on for two years.
Syria’s allies, China and Russia, have issued warnings against military intervention in Syria.