Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Friday that President Trump’s decision to mount a military strike on Syria was “appropriate,” but warned against deepening the United States’ involvement in the wartorn country.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Friday that President Trump ‘s decision to mount a military strike on Syria was “appropriate,” but warned against deepening the United States’ involvement in the wartorn country.
“A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria,” Schumer said in a statement.
Schumer’s comments came shortly after Trump announced that the U. S., France and the United Kingdom had launched “precision strikes” on targets in Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack in a suburb of Damascus that left dozens dead.
The U. S. and other Western countries have blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad for mounting the chemical strike.
Syria and its allies, Russia and Iran, have denied that Assad’s government used chemical weapons. Russia blamed the U. K. on Friday for staging the attack in the suburb of Douma.
Vice President Mike Pence notified congressional leaders of the strike on Friday, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Pence was apparently unable to immediately reach Schumer, who was on a plane. An aide to the vice president then emailed a member of Schumer’s staff, saying that Pence needed to speak with the senator.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also voiced support on Friday for a “measured” military response the Syrian government’s alleged chemical weapons use. But he similarly warned against taking actions that could “further destabilize” the region or expand the conflict.
“While the U. S. and our allies must not turn a blind eye to Assad’s vile and inhumane attacks against his own citizens, military action in Syria must be measured, as part of a coherent strategy to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons without further destabilizing an already-volatile region or inadvertently expanding the conflict,” he said.
