President Obama will carry out military action against Syria even if Congress votes against it, a senior State Department official tells Fox News' Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen.
US President Barack Obama speaks on Syria in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on August 31, 2013 as Vice President Joe Biden looks on. Obama said Saturday he will ask the US Congress to authorize military action against Syria. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
Rosen's notes concerning the White House's reported intentions regarding the Syrian crisis were posted on Fox News colleague Greta Van Susteren's Gretawire site late Saturday afternoon.
Rosen reports that "the president’s decision to seek a congressional debate and vote was a surprise to most if not all of" his national security team members. The state department official who communicated with Rosen added that Obama's move to seek congressional approval "did not supplant the president’s earlier decision to use force in Syria, only delayed its implementation."
“That’s going to happen, anyway,” the source told Rosen, which is why Obama's Rose Garden remarks Saturday included his belief that he possesses the authority to launch strikes even without congressional authorization, Rosen adds.
The White House Saturday sent Congress a draft of a resolution authorizing Obama to use military force against Syria and laying out the administration's claim that Assad's regime killed more than 1,000 last week in a chemical weapons attack.
The resolution also says the objective of a U.S. military response would be to "deter, disrupt, prevent and degrade" the regime's ability to use chemical weapons going forward.
The resolution authorizes Obama to use the military as he determines "necessary and appropriate" to serve that goal. The draft doesn't lay out a timeline for action but does say only a political settlement can resolve the Syrian crisis.
People demonstrate against a US-led strike on Syria in front of the White House in Washington on August 31, 2013. The US Congress will begin to debate a possible military strike against Syria during the week beginning September 9, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives said after US President Barack Obama said he would seek the authorization of Congress for any such action. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
The Associated Press contributed to this post.
This story has been updated.
(H/T: Weasel Zippers)
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