Despite being 99 percent sure that Syrian President Bashar al Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack, Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-9) told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that he hasn’t made a final decision about whether or not to support a resolution authorizing military action in Syria.
Pascrell said he wants the U.S. to send a very clear message — though not necessarily a military message — to Assad that international law should be upheld. “But a case can be made also that we’re getting ourselves into another internal mess, another civil war. I think we should provide one last chance to the Assad regime to come to the table either in Geneva or a neutrally agreed upon place and that we try to work out not only a cease fire but we try to work out some peace negotiations,” he said.
While Pascrell said he’s 99 percent convinced Assad was the source of the chemical weapons being used against his own people, that doesn’t mean he’s come to the conclusion that the U.S. needs to attack Syria.
“I would say doing nothing is not acceptable either. So what I’m suggesting is we perhaps can give peace one last chance, if you look at it that way, and put a resolution together condemning this action and allowing a few weeks for him to come to the table and basically assure the rest of the world that he’s not gonna use this again,” Pascrell said. “Don’t forget Syria has one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world. How many more people will be killed the day after we attack? This is something we can’t predict, but I certainly don’t want to increase the odds.”
Pascrell said he’s not prepared to vote yes for the resolution today. “I’m being very truthful, I’m not being coy,” he said.
He added that he’s not being political either, like he says some in the House hearing room were yesterday when they brought up Benghazi and the IRS. “That’s not the issue that we’re talking about. These people are fools,” he said. “And I think that we should come to some resolution here and stop trying to play politics with people’s lives — either ours or those people living in Syria.”