U.S. President Barack Obama conceded on Monday night he might lose his fight for Congressional support of a military strike against Syria, and declined to say what he would do if legislators reject his call to back retaliation for a chemical weapons attack last month.
"I think it's fair to say that I haven't decided" on a next step if Congress turns its back, the President said in an NBC interview, one of six he granted during the day as part of a furious lobbying campaign aimed at winning support from dubious lawmakers as well as a war-weary public.
The President sought to use a glimmer of a possible diplomatic solution including vaguely encouraging statements by Russian and Syrian officials on Monday as fresh reason for Congress to back his plan. Syria welcomed a proposal to turn over all of its chemical weapons to international control, but the Obama administration has voiced skepticism about the regime's intentions.
Speaking of the government of Bashar Assad, he said the credible threat of a military strike led by the United States "has given them pause and makes them consider whether or not they could make this move" to surrender control of their chemical weapons stockpile.
Classified briefings for legislators just back from vacation, the public release of cringe-inducing videos of men, women and children writing in agony from the evident effects of chemical gas, and a half-dozen network news interviews featuring Mr. Obama were folded into the White House bid to avert a humiliating defeat over the next 10 days. Mr. Obama met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus during the day, and arranged a trip to the Capitol as well as a prime time speech from the White House on Tuesday.
The President picked up a smattering of support but also suffered a reversal when Senator Johnny Isakson, a Republican, announced he had switched from a backer of military action to an opponent.
"They're in tough shape. It is getting late," said Republican Representative Peter King after he and other legislators emerged from a closed-door meeting with administration officials. Mr. King favours the legislation that Mr. Obama wants, but he said the president didn't need to seek it and now must show that a strike "is in America's national security interest."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a statement of support for the President's request.
"Today, many Americans say that these atrocities are none of our business, that they're not our concern," the Democrat said of Mr. Assad's alleged gassing of civilians on August 21. "I disagree. Any time the powerful turn such weapons of terror and destruction against the powerless, it is our business."
Others came down on the other side of the question.
"I will vote 'no' because of too much uncertainly about what comes next," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican. "After Step A, what will be steps B, C, D and E?" he added, reflecting concerns that even the limited action Mr. Obama was contemplating could lead to a wider war.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, also voiced opposition. "I strongly believe that we need the entire world, not just America, to prevent and deter the use of chemical weapons in Syria, or anywhere else on the globe," she said.
In the House of Representatives, one of two female Iraq war veterans in Congress announced opposition to military strikes.
Legislation approved in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week would give Mr. Obama a maximum of 90 days to carry out a military attack, and it includes a ban on combat operations on the ground in Syria. Both of those limitations were last-minute concessions to critics of a military option, and it was unclear whether Mr. Reid would seek additional changes to build support.
Despite the difficulty confronting Mr. Obama, an AP survey indicated the issue was hardly hopeless for the President, particularly in the Senate where Democrats maintain a majority, and perhaps also in the Republican-controlled House.
The survey showed 23 Senate votes in favor of military authorisation and 10 more leaning that way. Opponents totalled 20, with another 14 leaning in the same direction, with the remaining 33 senators undecided or publicly uncommitted. That created at least the possibility of the 60-vote majority that will be necessary to advance the bill.
In the House, there were fewer than a dozen declared in support and 150 opposed or leaning that way. But 201 legislators had yet to take a public position, more than enough to swing the outcome either way.
The public opinion polling was daunting for the president and his team.
An Associated Press poll showed that 61 per cent of those surveyed want Congress to vote against authorisation of U.S. military strikes in Syria and 26 per cent want legislators to support such an action, with the remainder undecided.
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