Iowa Experts Await Syria Vote - ABC5 News Des Moines, IA  Iowa
Experts Await Syria Vote  Posted: Updated:  by Phil Prazan
With President Obama calling on Congress to approve a resolution
calling for a strike on Syria, Iowa experts are weighing in.
They say the decision to go into Syria is so difficult in part,
because of how long we've been watching the civil war there
unfold.  In June, President Obama drew a "red line," saying the
use of chemical weapons would bring punishment from the
international community. But when U.S. Intelligence reported
Bashar al Assad and the Alawite Syrian Government used sarin gas
on civilians including children, decisions had to be made.
Syria's ally Russia blocks any action from the United Nations. 
Then last week Britain's parliament voted to do nothing, forcing
President Obama to go to his usual opponents in Congress. "He
wants someone else to say 'I'm responsible for it too,' in case
it doesn't work out," explains Charles Dobbs, a Professor of
Diplomatic History at Iowa