Senators Mikulski and Cardin Support Syria Strike: Where Local Representatives Stand

The two Democratic Senators who represent Maryland said recently they support a limited strike on Syria in response to chemical weapons being used by Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski said earlier this week, "I will support the president's request for a targeted, limited military action against the Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in response to the horrific, grim and ghoulish use of chemical weapons," according to the Baltimore Sun.


Senator Ben Cardin voted in favor of authorizing President Barack Obama to use a limited military strike in Syria as part of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee's resolution last week, according to Politico.

President Obama made the case for a limited strike on Syria in a primetime television appearance Tuesday night. In his speech he said the U.S. Government knows Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack, in which officials estimate sarin gas killed over 1,300 people.
President Obama said he resisted calls for military action in the civil war that has embroiled Syria for the past two years, but "The situation profoundly changed, though, on August 21st, when Assad's government gassed to death over a thousand people, including hundreds of children."

Rep. John Sarbanes (D-3rd District) said he supports President Obama in a statement.

"I find persuasive the President's arguments that a strike is warranted in order to give teeth to the international ban on chemical weapons and in order to demonstrate American resolve in the Middle East," wrote Sarbanes.

Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger (D-2nd District) said that Assad must go and supported military action against the Syrian leader.
However, not every Congressional representative who serves Howard County is on board, despite the president's plea.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-7th District) said in a statement that he had reservations about a military strike in Syria.

"As we have seen over the past decade," wrote Cummings, "the use of military force is one of the most grave actions our nation can take, and it often has consequences that are impossible to foresee."

Do you think our representatives are making the right decision to support or not support a limited strike in Syria? Tell us in the comments.