Sen. Menendez to hold hearings on whether to attack Syria

[KittyWampus]

Sen. Menendez to hold hearings on whether to attack Syria
September 01, 2013 at 3:32 PM


U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will preside over a hearing beginning this Tuesday to debate whether the Senate should authorize the use of military force in Syria.

"Senior administration witnesses will testify before the Committee, and the Congress will debate this issue actively, fully, and publicly," Menendez said in a statement. "It is my view that the use of military force in Syria is justified and necessary given the Assad regime's reprehensible use of chemical weapons and gross violation of international law.

"I look forward to sharing these views with my colleagues in the days ahead as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convenes to take up this vital national security issue."

snip
"Time is of the essence," Menendez told The Star-Ledger in a telephone interview. "If a regime uses chemical weapons against its people, in contravention of the international laws, how does one at the end of the day send a clear and unequivocal message that the world will not permit that?"

Menendez stopped short of calling for boots on the ground but did suggest attacking specific regime units which carried out chemical attacks in Eastern Damascus.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/09/sen_menendez_to_hold_hearings_on_whether_to_attack_syria.html

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Good

The more transparency here, the better.

The UN should be shamed into getting its shit together as well.

[sabrina 1]

2. Well, he's already made up his mind without seeing any evidence. So I won't hold out

much hope that this will be anything but political theater. I would love, love, love to be wrong. But if we could bet on this, I would bet on Congress going along as they have always have with any war that comes along.

Has Congress ever voted 'no' to war?

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. Yeah. Sounds like his "hearings" will be more or less "rationalizations" for attacks.

His words pretty much bear this out.

[leveymg]

3. Menendez is a top-tier recipient of AIPAC funding

I find it hard to take his objectivity about this subject for granted.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2012&ind=Q05
Top 20 Recipients
Rank Candidate Office Amount
1 Romney, Mitt (R) $884,093
2 Berkley, Shelley (D-NV) House $526,174
3 Menendez, Robert (D-NJ) Senate $341,170
4 Mandel, Josh (R-OH) $274,050
5 Brown, Sherrod (D-OH) Senate $269,551
6 Kaine, Tim (D-VA) $245,820
7 Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana (R-FL) House $238,685
8 Nelson, Bill (D-FL) Senate $228,450
9 Berman, Howard L (D-CA) House $221,470
10 Cardin, Ben (D-MD) Senate $219,293
11 Cantor, Eric (R-VA) House $211,810
12 McCaskill, Claire (D-MO) Senate $207,871
13 Hasner, Adam (R-FL) $200,056
14 Rothman, Steven R (D-NJ) House $187,410
15 Lingle, Linda (R-HI) $185,500
16 Baldwin, Tammy (D-WI) House $172,380
17 Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI) Senate $167,852
18 Schneider, Brad (D-IL) $163,284
19 Heinrich, Martin (D-NM) House $158,373
20 Dold, Robert (R-IL) House $153,700

[cthulu2016]

4. love the bi-partisanship

[KittyWampus]

5. might be why he sounds a tad gung-ho.