Muslim Congressman: Obama should’ve used force in Syria

U.S. President Barack Obama should have used military force in Syria, said Keith Ellison, the first U.S. Muslim Congressman, in an interview with Al Arabiya News Channel.

“Obama should have used military force to destroy the airports and to degrade Assad’s ability to fly and to harm the people,” he said.

He added that the Syrian crisis is currently in a state of stalemate.

“We’re at a point in Syria where the government can’t defeat the rebels and the rebels can’t defeat the government,” said Ellison, who advocated a “more robust peace effort” to solve the crisis.

Failure to support

Another mistake the U.S. president made was his failure to support opposition groups earlier on in the conflict, according to the lawmaker.

“Obama should have really engaged the opposition forces earlier on in the crisis,” he said.

A key problem of Washington’s strategy for Syria has been its inability to engage Iran, the lawmaker added.

“A big mistake is that we’ve never really engaged Iran in trying to resolve the conflict although they’re a key player and can’t really be ignored.”