Romney ‘Open’ to Invading Syria

Says He Is Ready to Take 'Whatever Action is Necessary'

In an effort to further narrow the razor-thin gap between his foreign policy position and President Obama’s, Republican candidate Mitt Romney today announced in an interview with CBS News that he is “open” to invading Syria.

Exactly as with statements from the White House, Romney couched this openness to starting yet another protracted Middle East conflict as being about Syria’s chemical weapon arsenal, saying he would take “whatever action is necessary” to prevent Syria’s arsenal from changing hands.

Of course there is no indication that this is actually happening, and Russian officials have reported that they have been given guarantees that the weapons won’t be moved, but this hasn’t stopped US officials from issuing new threats on a regular basis.

The exact size of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal is unknown, but last week US officials predicted that it would take an invasion of some 50,000-60,000 troops to seize them, with more required for “peacekeeping operations” on top of that.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.