One of the reasons President Obama decided not to escalate American military intervention in Syria was the fear he could be impeached over it.
Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser to Obama, told Politico Magazine White House staff took congressional warnings against intervening in Syria very seriously.
“We had no international support. The only country in the world that was prepared to join us was France. And we had no domestic legal basis,” he said. “We actually had Congress warning us against taking action without congressional authorization, which we interpreted as the president could face impeachment.”
He added, “Go back and read the letters from Boehner, letters from the Republican members of Congress. They laid down markers that this would not be constitutional. If we got drawn into a conflict in Syria without congressional authorization, without international authorization, without international support, you can see very clearly how that could have completely derailed this entire presidency.”
Obama’s record on Syria is widely seen as one of the biggest blots on his presidential legacy. Republicans have criticized him for not standing up to Syrian President Bashar Assad and allowing Russia and Iran to grow in strength and influence throughout the conflict.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died in the nearly six-year long civil war that has devolved into a humanitarian disaster.
Rhodes, who previously said he’s not proud of the administration’s Syria record, said there’s no way to please people in the Middle East.
“And what I found in general in the Middle East is you aren’t going to make people happy. We cannot resolve the issues internal to these countries. What I feel bad about is the fact that they’re just ordinary people who are caught in the middle of this,” Rhodes said.
“What’s strange is, I met with the Syrian opposition, and often they would argue that we should work with al Nusra, who we know is al Qaeda. And I’m sympathetic if you’re in a neighborhood where al Nusra is defending you against Assad. You want us to work with them. But let’s say a U.S. president does that, and then al Nusra is using weapons that we gave them against us. That’s something you never recover from,” he said.
Rhodes also discussed President-elect Trump taking office and his concerns over how Trump will handle foreign policy.
Rhodes said the president makes small decisions every day that could have massive impact on world order.
“What concerns me is the things that happen every week. I don’t think people realize how many decisions the president of the United States makes about military action. The Iranians harass some vessel of ours in the Persian Gulf. What do we do in response?” Rhodes said.
“There’s shelling around our diplomatic facility in X Middle Eastern country. The Chinese pass too close for comfort by a U.S. Navy ship in the South China Sea. These decisions come all the time, and they’re going to come from day one. I would be more focused on that. Because a dust-up with the Iranians or the Chinese could get out of hand very fast,” he said.
