It looks like if the U.S. engages in any type of military strike against Syria, it will be in concert with their European allies.
Today, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the United States is examining all options but would not act alone in dealing with allegations that the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on its own people.
Meanwhile, on a French radio station, France Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "all options" are still open for crafting an international response, but "the only option I do not envisage is to do nothing."
In Tampa today, Polk County Republican Congressman Dennis Ross blasted the Obama administration for its inaction on on this matter.
"What we should have done was taken action 18 months ago when we first had an opportunity to," said Ross, though he would not specify what type of action he was talking about.
[jump]"We've got to have some role in this, but I don't believe militarily we need to be putting boots on the ground," he told CL after taking a tour of Moffitt Cancer Center.
Though nobody is seriously suggesting that U.S. troops go into Syria, there has been a good bit of conversation about cruise missile strikes; but Ross isn't supportive of that idea either.
"I don't believe we need to be doing strikes right now. We need to do some serious damage control because we should have been involved, at a different level, some time ago to prevent what's happening now," the congressman said. "Let's say that the Assad regime is successful. The U.S. is totally irrelevant now because the ones who are backing him — Russia, Iran — are the ones who are going to have the upper hand in the Middle East. And if the rebels win, where were we? We helped with some weaponry, but really we've become irrelevant when they realized that this whole thing may be resolved, one way or another, good or bad, without US involvement. I think that we have a relevant roll to play, we just haven't played it, and that has been to our detriment over the last 18 months."