DeSantis says no to our involvement in Syrian civil war

Congressman Ron D. DeSantis announced to Historic City News in St Augustine that he attended yesterday’s hearing on Syria, where he heard testimony from US Secretary of State, John Kerry, US Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey.

DeSantis is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and an officer in the US Navy Reserve.

“I do not support authorizing President Obama to use military force in the Syrian civil war at this time,” DeSantis told reporters. “The Obama administration has not articulated a clear objective for using military force in Syria, much less a plan to achieve that objective.”

DeSantis says that, given the realities of a Syrian civil war in which Assad’s dictatorship, which is supported by Iran and Hezbollah, is fighting so-called “rebels” that are populated with Sunni Islamic supremacists and Al Qaeda fighters, this is all the more problematic.

“In other words, the United States does not have an interest in assisting either side of the conflict or in refereeing a civil war amongst these warring anti-American factions,” DeSantis said. “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 Qaeda and other groups have long sought to use against America.”