WTHR.com - Rokita Calls for Congressional Debate on Syria

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By David MacAnally

Indiana Congressman Todd Rokita says the British Parliament's debate on taking action is Syria is a lesson in democracy for the United States.

He told Eyewitness News he cannot support even limited military action unless Congress debates the issue.

"I just refuse to rush willy-nilly because a president, who has heretofore not led, says so. And (Secretary of State) John Kerry for that matter. So bring this to Congress, let us debate it. Let us have this discussion," Rokita said.

Rokita blames President Barack Obama's failure to lead.

"When America fails to lead, bad things happen. So we have to take that into account for sure. But in this situation, because the president in the last months or years said some things, we now have to be made to back that up, because a mouth was opened. And I can't even cite for you, I don't think the president can cite for you, what the Obama doctrine is. You could agree or disagree with the Bush doctrine," Rokita said. "But you knew where the man stood."

The congressman raised questions about who we are targeting.

"We have rebels who could very well be, if not already al Qaida, fighting the Assad regime that is Iran-backed. Now these are two groups of people who, if they weren't fighting each other, quite frankly, would be designing ways to fight us. So again, I am not seeing the huge necessity to stop this right now."

He wants to learn more about the chemical attacks.

"It's horrific that children are being attacked. Again, these are, in many cases, the children of terrorists who, if they were not fighting each other, would be fighting us. And again, I am very hesitant to send soldiers over there right now to involve us in a situation where we have no end game and no cap on any kind of cost," Rokita said.

Rokita says the Obama administration would be violating the War Powers Act by not taking the matter to Congress.

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