China and Russia issued sharp rebukes, with Russian President Vladimir Putin going so far to say that Secretary of State John Kerry deliberately misled members of Congress in his testimony this week. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need for any intervention to have the approval of the U.N. Security Council, though U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters yesterday that the United States will not press for such a resolution given Russia and China’s obstinacy. Members of the European Union questioned the likely effectiveness of planned strikes, and the Catholic Church called for the international community to use peaceful means to resolve the Syrian civil war.
President Obama instructed planners at the Pentagon to expand its list of potential targets based on new intelligence of Syrian troop movements. On Capitol Hill, where debates continue as to whether Congress should authorize the use of military force against Syria, some lawmakers are casting doubts on Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s testimony that strike would cost only “tens of millions of dollars.”
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Foreign Policy Magazine