Expert: Obama hopes to get out of predicament by seeking approval from Congress

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Expert: Obama hopes to get out of predicament by seeking approval from Congress

(People's Daily Online) 09:48, September 03, 2013

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Obama hopes to get out of predicament by seeking approval from Congress

U.S. President Barack Obama actually wants to extricate himself from a predicament as he suffers great political stress in the U.S. and abroad, said Qu Xing, president of China Institute of International Studies, when talking about why Obama submitted military action resolution against Syria for the Congress’s authorization.

The U.S. President announced on Aug. 31 that the White House on Saturday sent Congress a draft resolution that authorizes a U.S. military action against the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons last week.

As the U.S. lawmakers will return to session on Sept. 9 after a summer break the White House will not be authorized for this military action before Sept. 9 at the earliest.

“President Obama can reduce the domestic and international political stress by seeking Congress’s authorization to launch military strike against Syria. If the draft resolution on attacking Syria is approved by Congress, Obama will achieve legitimacy as the Congress represents the will of the people,” said Qu Xing, in a telephone interview with People’s Daily Online on Sept. 2.

“If the Congress blocks Obama’s draft resolution, it will offer him an excuse for giving up this military action. Thus it can be seen that Obama is forced to make this decision under tremendous political pressure. By seeking Congress’s authorization, Obama actually finds himself a way out of the embarrassing situation,” said Qu.

Some people doubted that Obama was trying to earn time to prepare for military strike. Qu pointed out that: “The U.S. needn’t too much preparation for attacking Syria. The U.S. military deployment is ready.”

As the majority of Americans strongly oppose to the military action against Syria, some netizens think the U.S. congress may veto the resolution. Qu Xing said: ”If it is just a limited strike with the purpose of punishing Bashar al Assad instead of overthrowing the Syrian regime. It is very likely that the Congress will approve the resolution. "

（Editor：YaoChun、Liang Jun）