Update 2:30 PM EST
A U.S. military response to alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria appeared more likely on Sunday after Washington dismissed the Syrian government's offer to allow U.N. inspection of the sites as "too late to be credible."
I'm watching This Week on ABC on the crisis in Syria and listening to the latest news and interviews, and hearing from one that military intervention could make the situation there much worse, a point well taken and one that I agree with.
We are a nation so war weary that we all but ignore the current war that limps along in Afghanistan, now in its 12th year. Taking military action in Syria does not poll well, to this war weary nation.
As the White House considers options on Syria and as the Syria war escalates, Americans are cool to U.S. intervention, according to recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
If Obama decides to undertake military action against Assad's regime, he will do so in the face of steady opposition from an American public wary after more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Taken together, the polls suggest that so far, the growing crisis in Syria, and the emotionally wrenching pictures from an alleged chemical attack in a Damascus suburb this week, may actually be hardening many Americans' resolve not to get involved in another conflict in the Middle East.
Aug 22nd, 2013, Should not intervene = 48.5%
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, taken August 19-23, found that 25 percent of Americans would support U.S. intervention if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces used chemicals to attack civilians, while 46 percent would oppose it. That represented a decline in backing for U.S. action since August 13, when Reuters/Ipsos tracking polls found that 30.2 percent of Americans supported intervention in Syria if chemicals had been used, while 41.6 percent did not.
http://www.reuters.com/...
Update - U.S. says Syria offer to show chemical attack sites 'too late'
Sun Aug 25, 2013 2:21pm EDT
(Reuters) - Americans strongly oppose U.S. intervention in Syria's civil war and believe Washington should stay out of the conflict even if the reports are true that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, a Reuters/Ipsos poll says.
About 60 percent of those surveyed in the poll said the United States should not intervene, meaning Obama would have to make a convincing case to the American public for any action that he would decide to take.
Russia on Sunday warned the United States against repeating the "mistakes of the past" in Syria, saying any U.S. action should not bypass the United Nations. Iran, another key ally of Assad, said Washington should not cross a "red line" by attacking Syria, while Syria's information minister said any U.S. military action would "create a ball of fire."