[00:03.95]From VOA Learning English,
[00:07.08]this is In The News.
[00:09.37]This week, a United States Senate committee
[00:13.15]voted in support of a possible
[00:16.15]American military strike against Syria.
[00:20.73]The Senate Foreign Relations Committee
[00:23.81]approved a proposed resolution by a vote of 10 to seven.
[00:29.59]The resolution gives President Barack Obama power
[00:34.03]to take military action against Syria
[00:38.11]because the United States says the Syrian government
[00:42.40]used chemical weapons against civilians.
[00:46.93]The resolution calls for limited U.S. action
[00:51.41]lasting no more than 90 days.
[00:55.01]It does not permit the use of American ground troops in Syria.
[01:01.19]The resolution now goes to the full Senate.
[01:05.03]The House of Representatives must also vote on it.
[01:10.17]The Senate committee vote came less than a week
[01:14.10]after United Nations chemical weapons inspectors left Syria.
[01:20.62]U.N. officials sent the inspection team
[01:24.06]to investigate an attack that took place 10 days earlier.
[01:29.68]American officials say more than 1,400 people
[01:35.62]were killed in the attack, near Damascus.
[01:39.71]The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
[01:44.73]denies using chemical weapons.
[01:47.52]It says Syrian rebels used them against government soldiers.
[01:54.03]Last Saturday, President Obama spoke to Americans
[01:59.35]and the world about Syria.
[02:01.60]He said U.S. intelligence is clear that
[02:07.15]“well over 1,000 people” were killed
[02:11.13]-- gassed to death by their own government.
[02:14.91]He denounced what he called the worst
[02:18.55]chemical weapons attack of the 21st century.
[02:23.33]President Obama and some leading lawmakers
[02:27.46]have expressed strong support for military strikes against Syria.
[02:33.79]But a recent study found that 59 percent of
[02:38.37]Americans questioned oppose the idea.
[02:43.15]Christopher Hill is a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq
[02:48.28]and a former special representative to Kosovo.
[02:52.71]He supports limited military action against Syria.
[02:57.85]He says the world needs to send a strong signal
[03:02.88]that anyone who uses chemical weapons will be punished.
[03:08.80]“But the problem is we don’t
[03:10.79]have an overall way forward on Syria.
[03:13.23]People are out there fighting in Syria,
[03:15.33]either on Assad’s forces or against Assad,
[03:18.61]because they have no idea what the future of the country
[03:21.46]is going to hold and therefore they feel that in order
[03:24.19]to safeguard their future, they need to fight.”
[03:26.38]Retired U.S. Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni
[03:31.26]agrees with Mr. Hill.
[03:33.05]General Zinni headed “Operation Desert Fox,”
[03:37.13]a series of strikes against Iraq in 1998.
[03:42.32]He says American military action
[03:45.60]will strengthen rebel forces allied with al-Qaida.
[03:50.59]“Any strikes on Assad weaken him.
[03:53.50]When you weaken him,
[03:54.65]you strengthen the opposition.
[03:56.34]Those extremists are also part of the opposition.”
[03:59.93]Some experts say a U.S. military strike
[04:03.81]might incite the Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah
[04:08.50]to attack Western targets or Israel.
[04:12.38]Others say the Syrian military might use
[04:16.67]more chemical weapons against rebels and civilians.
[04:21.59]General Zinni says the situation is like a theatrical production.
[04:27.58]“Once Assad goes -- when, and if
[04:30.51]-- this could even be a greater mess than it is now.
[04:33.20]I mean, this civil war isn’t over
[04:34.80]because it will have an ‘Act Two’ to it.”
[04:37.34]The former general says that “act”
[04:40.53]could see Syrian opposition groups fighting each other
[04:44.76]after President Assad is gone.
[04:47.70]And that’s In the News, from VOA Learning English.
[04:53.33]I’m Steve Ember.