While some prominent lawmakers in Washington are calling for the U.S. to help overthrow the Syrian regime through arms and airstrikes, Tennessee lawmakers say that’s currently a dangerous proposition.
Senator John McCain is calling for arming the opposition and airstrikes on the Bashar al-Assad regime. The 2008 GOP presidential nominee says he’s more concerned about stopping the slaughter of the Syrian people than who replaces the current government. But Nashville Democrat Jim Cooper says it would be brash to arm fighters that are still being studied by U.S. military and intelligence officials.
“We don’t know the opposition. It’s not organized. We don’t know the safe areas to bomb. We don’t know that we wouldn’t be doing more harm than good. Libya was difficult. This is even more difficult.”
Republican Senator Bob Corker agrees. He’s planning to introduce legislation requiring the Obama Administration to report to Congress about the makeup of the Syrian opposition, which he’s says could be as many as 100 different groups.
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