Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reacts after the committee voted to accept his amendment as they consider the authorization for use of military force in Syria during a business meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain says the cause of rebels fighting Syria’s President Bashar Assad has been obscured in the rapid-fire military and diplomatic events following a chemical weapons attack near Damascus.
McCain says, quote, “I feel very badly for my friends in the Free Syrian Army today.”
The Arizona Republican tells MSNBC he’s not against negotiating to defuse the chemical weapons issue. But McCain also argues, “There’s nothing that will drive Syrians more into the hands of extremists than to feel they have been abandoned by the West.”
One of the persistent questions about U.S. policy in war-ravaged Syria is to what extent the terrorist network al-Qaida is involved in the efforts to end Assad’s rule. McCain said President Barack Obama should have acted more forcefully against Assad many months ago.
