During a press conference Sept. 1, President Barack Obama advocated for the United States to take military action against the Assad regime in Syria.
“This would be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground,” Obama said. “Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope.”
The Assad regime is strongly believed to have used chemical weapons in an attack on the suburbs of Damascus Aug. 21.  According to the U.S. government, an evolving assessment determined so far 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including 426 children.
Obama made the decision to obtain approval from congressional representatives before taking military action.
“I’ve long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might,” Obama said. “But in our example as a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”
On Sept. 4, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made a 10 to 7 vote in support of the president’s decision.  The House still has yet to vote, but according to CNN, 109 members of the House plan to vote “no” on military action, 24 representatives plan to support Obama’s decision, while 280 remain undecided.
Secretary of State, John Kerry, made a remark during the first public hearing in Congress, opening a door to the idea of ground troops in Syria, but later clarified his recommendation.
“Let’s shut the door now,” Kerry said. “The answer is, whatever prohibition clarifies it to Congress, or the American people, there will not be American boots on the ground with respect to the civil war.”
Obama and Sweden’s Prime Minister Reinfeldt shared remarks on Syria during a joint press conference held on Sept. 4, in Sweden.
Along with President Obama, the prime minister states that those who are responsible for the chemical weapons attack need to be held accountable, and a political solution is necessary. However, Reinfeldt differs on who should hold Syria accountable.
“Sweden believes that serious matters concerning international peace and security should be handled by the United Nations,” Reinfeldt said. “But I also understand the potential consequences of letting a violation like this go unanswered.”
During August of last year, President Obama was asked about his confidence in the safety of the chemical weapons in Syria, and if he foresaw using U.S. military in the future.
“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.”
When asked during the joint press conference in Sweden about preserving his credibility for setting the red line, Obama made clear who set the red line.
“First of all, I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line,” Obama said. “The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war.”