Sen. John McCain’s morning-after assessment of President Obama’s nationally televised speech Wednesday night on the Syrian crisis was harsh.
The leading Republican voice on defense and foreign policy praised the president for highlighting the horror of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack against its own people. But he questioned the president’s timing in delivering the speech amid a swirl of diplomatic activity. McCain complained Obama was simultaneously seeking congressional authority to launch a limited attack on Syria while requesting a pause so that he can pursue a diplomatic solution.
In the face of staunch congressional and public resistance to military intervention, Obama last night said he would hold off on military action for now while he pursued a Russian proposal for international monitors to take over and destroy Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons. The Russians seized on a proposal floated by Secretary of State John Kerry to call off a missile attack if Syria agreed to give up its huge arsenal of deadly gases.
“You have to wonder whether last night was the right time [for the speech] given the rapid turn of events that took place in this ‘breakthrough’ as far as the offer of the Russians to be involved in a disarmament of Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons,” McCain said at a breakfast sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. “…the President was arguing for action but at the same time arguing for a pause.”
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The Arizona Republican also sharply criticized the President for failing to address the plight of the Syrian rebels and to signal a willingness to send arms to the Free Syrian Army in a bid to change the momentum of the civil war. Obama privately gave those assurances to McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during a recent meeting in the Oval Office.
“They [the rebels] must have been dispirited last night by the President’s failure to mention that they deserved our support,” McCain said.
In June, the White House authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to help arm moderate fighters battling the Assad regime’s much better armed forces. But since then nothing has been done to provide weapons to rebel forces, while Russia, Iran and other Assad allies have steadily shipped sophisticated weapons to the Syrian government. Officials have attributed the U.S. delay to establishing secure delivery “pipelines” to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands – particularly Jihadi militants also battling the Assad regime.
But some analysts say the delay reflects a wider administration fear that tipping the balance of power in favor of the opposition and toppling Assad might prove to be even worse for U.S. interests in the Middle East than the current stalemate.
McCain and Graham have long urged U.S. intervention in the civil war on the side of the rebels, and have sought to minimize the risks of joining Saudi Arabia in arming the Free Syrian Army.
“Again, I wish [Obama] had at least made mention of the fact that we are supporting and need to increase our support of the Free Syrian Army,” McCain said this morning. “And by the way, we do know who to give the weapons to. The Saudis have been doing it for quite a period of time. But I would argue that if these people feel abandoned by us, that leads them to the desperation of turning towards more radical elements and jihadists and extremists.”
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Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that while the president has mismanaged the Syrian crisis from day one, “I think he made an unbelievably compelling case [last night] that we need to act here; compare that to the unbelievably small response we’re going to give.”
“If I were the President I would act after this speech if diplomacy fell apart,” Graham told CNN last night. “I wouldn’t come back to Congress [for formal approval]. Because if he does, his credibility with the world is completely shot. You can’t address the world and talk to your enemies and your friends in the tone he did and do nothing.”
For his part, McCain thinks the president has still failed to make a compelling case for an attack. “At least from the town hall meetings that I have had, my constituents don’t see a plan or a strategy,” McCain said. “In other words, what is our end game here? What is it that we’re really trying to achieve? Is it an ‘unbelievably minimal’ strike [as Kerry said] or is it to change the regime and have a negotiated departure of Bashar al-Assad, which all of us appreciate can only be achieved if the situation – the momentum on the battle field – is reversed.”
And while Obama struggles to win support for his policies, McCain added, Russian President Vladimir Putin may be in the best of all positions. Not only has Putin managed to forestall a U.S. air strike against Syria, he has secured a seat at the table to negotiate the terms of a settlement over the disposition of Syria’s chemical weapons. And at the same time, Russia will continue to send conventional weapons to Syria to assist Assad in crushing the rebels.
“I’m not exactly sure, but if you were sitting in Putin’s seat you would feel pretty good today,” McCain quipped.
