WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is heading to Congress with fresh hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough that would allow Syria’s government to avert U.S. missile strikes if it surrenders its chemical weapons arsenal. His Tuesday meetings with Democratic and Republican lawmakers come at a time that opposition to military action is mounting among Americans and lawmakers.
Obama had planned to use the meetings with senators to personally lobby his plan of targeted strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s (bah-SHAR’ AH’-sahd) forces in retaliation for last month’s massive chemical weapons attack outside of Damascus. Instead, he signaled in interviews ahead of his trip to Capitol Hill that new diplomacy involving Russia and others could eliminate the risks of a repeat chemical attack without requiring American military intervention.
Source: Associated Press
