Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA10) has called on the President to appoint an advisory group of former diplomats, senior military leaders and statesmen to advise him on what action should be taken in Syria.
Washington, D.C. (September 2, 2013) – Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today called on President Obama to immediately set up an advisory panel made up of former Secretaries of State, ambassadors, statesmen and senior military officers to assist his administration in dealing with the situation in Syria.
Wolf said former Secretaries of State Jim Baker and Madeleine Albright, former Ambassadors Edward Djerejian, Theodore Kattouf and Ryan Crocker and Generals John Abizaid, Anthony Zinni and David Barno would all be good candidates to serve on what he calls the Syria Advisory Group.
Wolf, the author of the legislation creating the Iraq Study Group, said the group could be used as strategic envoys and negotiators in Damascus and elsewhere and would provide a dual-track approach to what the Obama Administration pursues.
“I do not pretend to think that a Syria Advisory Group is the key to a just and lasting peace in a land where much blood has been spilt,” Wolf wrote in a letter to the president today. “But I see little downside in enlisting their aid and venture that a war-weary nation would embrace such an approach.”
Wolf traveled to the region earlier this year and met with Syrian refugees in Lebanon about the horrific violence taking place, the vulnerability of religious minorities and the influx of foreign jihadist fighters into the country. Click here for a copy of his trip report.
In addition to sending the letter, Wolf said he remains deeply concerned about any U.S. military action in Syria and, if a vote were held today, he would vote against a strike. He raised concern about whether such a move would empower radical Al-Qaeda connected jihadists and if a U.S. strike would result in a retaliatory strike on the United States or American interests abroad.
Full text of the letter to Obama can be found here.
