Obama: This Is 'Not Another Iraq or Afghanistan'

Presses case against Syria in weekly address
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 7, 2013 6:58 AM CDT

President Obama didn't exactly return from the G20 summit with a ringing international endorsement to take action against Syria, but he continued making his case before his own nation this morning via his weekly radio address. Obama hit familiar themes, ones he will surely revisit in his speech to the nation Tuesday night, reports Reuters.

  • "This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan."
  • "Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope—designed to deter the Syrian government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so."
  • "I know that the American people are weary after a decade of war, even as the war in Iraq has ended, and the war in Afghanistan is winding down. That's why we're not putting our troops in the middle of somebody else's war."

As for the G20 summit: Obama got the backing of 10 countries for a statement that says Bashar al-Assad should be held accountable for using chemical weapons, but the statement pointedly fell short of calling for military action, notes the Los Angeles Times, which concludes that the president "fell well short of an international coalition that might help persuade reluctant lawmakers." (More President Obama stories.)

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