CHARLESTON, W.Va. – U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller said he’s not being coy but he doesn’t plan to announce his position on military action in Syria until the first of next week.
“It’s a careful decision,” Rockefeller said during an event in Charleston on Friday. “There’s two parts: If we do something, what risk do we run? If we don’t do something, what risk do we run?”
As the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Rockefeller said he’s well-versed on the situation.
“I’ve been to Syria many times. I’ve met (President Bashar) Assad a number of times. And I know the intelligence about them very, very well,” stressed the senator.
However, he said he plans to spend the next couple of days in deep thought about the pros and cons.
“I’ve pretty much made up my mind on what I’m going to do. But I want to spend the weekend going back and reading a whole lot of material again before I say for sure,” Rockefeller said.
The senator is the last of West Virginia’s congressional delegation to make his decision on Syria public.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, 1st District Congressman David McKinley and 2nd District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito are all against taking action in Syria, while 3rd District Congressman Nick Rahall said he’s in favor of a limited engagement against the Assad regime.