US President Barack Obama speaks during his news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at the chancellery in Stockholm on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
US President Barack Obama has repeated allegations that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in the last month\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s attack.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cWe believe that chemical weapons were used,\u201d Obama said during a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt in Stockholm on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cI do think that we have to act, because if we don\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t, we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on, someone who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity,\u201d he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00c5\u201cKeep in mind I\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m somebody who opposed the war in Iraq, and I\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m not interested in repeating mistakes about basing decisions on faulty intelligence,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n
The US president also appeared certain he would gain congressional authorization for his strike plan for Syria.\n<\/p>\n
“I believe that Congress will approve it,” Obama said when asked what he would do if Congress rejects his call for action.\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Rand Paul criticized the Obama administration for reducing Congress’ role in the authorization process to “constitutional theater.”\n<\/p>\n
By attacking Syria, the White House would be “making a joke” of Congress if lawmakers vote against US intervention, Paul said during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
“If we do not say that the Constitution applies, if we do not say explicitly that we will abide by this vote, you’re making a joke of us,” Paul said. “You’re making us into theater, and so we play constitutional theater for the president.”\n<\/p>\n
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to consider a revised bill on Wednesday authorizing a military strike. An authorization would set a 60-day deadline for the use of military force in Syria, with the possibility of one 30-day extension.\n<\/p>\n
President Obama said he was \u00c5\u201chopeful\u201d he would be able to convince his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a key ally of President Assad, to back his strike plan against Syria, during the G20 summit.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cWe\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve kind of hit a wall in terms of additional progress. But I have not written off the idea that the US and Russia are going to continue to have common interests even as we have profound differences,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cDo I hold out hope that Mr. Putin may change his position on some of these issues? I\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m always hopeful, and I continue to engage him,\u201d Obama added.\n<\/p>\n
AGB\/HJ
\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n