Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Sunday the action taken against Syria on Friday is justified and within the interests of the United States because it was a response to the use of chemical weapons.
King said on CNN’s “State of the Union” he believes President Trump and other world leaders that there is evidence the attack goes back to Bashar Assad.
“I think it is important to distinguish between a chemical weapons attack and a general incursion into Syria. … Going in to take out chemical weapons capacity, which is what the strike was all about, is arguably within our national interest and justified,” King argued.
King added the strike was not an attack on the Assad regime itself, which he indicates is a good thing.
“What this strike was not, and I think it’s fortunate that this was the case, was a strike against the Assad regime itself — an attempt to sort of intervene in the civil war,” King told CNN Sunday morning. “So, it was a narrow strike.”
Chemical weapons use has been illegal since World War I, and King said has usually been the “red line” for most of the world.
However, King did argue that it would not be known if the attack was “mission accomplished,” like Trump claimed it was Saturday, for another few months.
