Charles Dharapak/AP
President Barack Obama stands with Vice President Joe Biden as he makes states that he has decided that the United States should take military action against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack, and said he will seek congressional authorization for the use of force.
President Obama declared Saturday that he was ready to strike back at Syria for its use of chemical weapons ? but will first ask Congress for its approval.
The President, after calling the Aug. 21 deaths of 1,429 people the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century, said the U.S. was ?prepared to strike whenever we choose.?
He then said we would seek authorization from Congress before any military response.
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Obama, joined at a Rose Garden news conference by Vice President Biden, said that he thought a Congressional vote was important in making the appropriate response.
But the president made it clear that he believed a military response was the right way to go.
?I have decided that the United States should take military action ... (and) hold the Assad regime responsible for their use of chemical weapons,? he said. ?And I am prepared to give that order.?
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Republicans expressed satisfaction at Obama's decision, and challenged him to make his case to the public and lawmakers alike that American power should be used to punish Assad.
"We are glad the president is seeking authorization for any military action in Syria in response to serious, substantive questions being raised," House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and other House Republican leaders said in a joint statement.
"In consultation with the president, we expect the House to consider a measure the week of September 9th. This provides the president time to make his case to Congress and the American people."Obama made his remarks hours after the United Nations experts probing last week?s purported chemical weapons strike in Syria left the nation for neighboring Lebanon.
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The departure of the U.N. team removed one impediment to any American attack on Syria in response to the deaths of more than 1,000 victims ? including at least 426 children.
A U.S. military response raised the possibility of Syrian neighbors like Israel, Jordan and Turkey.
The Israeli military deployed its ?Iron Dome? missile defense system in Tel Aviv in anticipation of a possible Syrian strike.
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Gas-mask distributions centers in Israel were also packed as tensions in the region continued to mount.
Obama had said he was weighing ?limited and narrow? action against the Syrian regime accused by the White House of using chemical weapons.
The inspection team departed Syria in a 13-car convoy Saturday, driving to the airport in Beirut.
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They collected blood and urine samples from victims along with soil samples from the rebel-held Damascus suburbs where the Aug. 21 attack reportedly occurred.
On Friday, the administration went public with its case for retaliation against Syria, accusing the Assad regime of responsibility for the attack.
But only France has emerged to support an attack against Syria.
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?Frankly, part of the challenge we end up with here is a lot of people think something should be done but nobody wants to do it,? the president said Friday.
U.S. warships armed with cruise missiles are already situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Syria's coastal waters.
The missiles can strike targets from hundreds of miles away without requiring air cover or ground support.
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The Assad government blasted the U.S. charges as ?flagrant lie,? invoking the bogus Bush Administration claims of weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq invasion.
?Under the pretext of protecting the Syrian people, they are making a case for an aggression that will kill hundreds of innocent Syrian civilians,? said a Foreign Ministry statement released via state television.
Obama announced more than a year ago that unleashing chemical weapons was a ?red line? that Assad should not cross.
With News wire services
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lmcshane@nydailynews.com
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nydnrss/new-york/~3/youf7i-2ioM/story01.htm
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