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Wilson: Syrian Intervention Could Place Chemical Weapons in Terrorists' Hands

September 10, 2013

Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02), Chairman of Subcommittee on Military Personnel, issued the following statement after today's House Armed Services Committee hearing on Syria. Witnesses included Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey.

Wilson stated, "Today, I had the opportunity to question the Administration for the second time in a week about potential military action against Syria. It is sadly clear that the President's campaign is amateur in nature and lacks a sound intervention plan. Not only will a strike place the United States and our allies in the Middle East at greater risk, the President's confused approach does not prevent Assad's chemical weapons from falling into terrorists' hands. I think it is irresponsible to place American service members at risk with without a comprehensive strategy and clearly defined objective."


*To view the entire Q&A session, click here.

Transcript:

Congressman Wilson: "…There are always unforeseen circumstances such as if Assad were to lose power, wouldn't it be necessary to place troops there to secure the chemical weapons?"

Secretary Hagel: "…We are working and have been working closely with all Syria's neighbors on this particular issue: Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia. Yes, we are always looking at those options as to how we would respond, what we would do, what we would have to do."

Secretary Kerry: "Congressman, could I add to that that this is specifically geared not to raise the risk of losing control over those..."

Congressman Wilson: "…With so many different competing groups, and we know al Qaeda is involved, I don't see how it could be guaranteed there wouldn't be a real potential for international terrorists to achieve chemical weapons."