WASHINGTON
(AP) -- For President Barack Obama's new foreign policy advisers, the
first test of their willingness to undertake military action wound up
being a stark lesson in the president's ability to overrule them all.
Obama's
abrupt decision to seek congressional approval before striking Syria
also overshadowed what had been a surprising level of consensus among
the second-term team members about how to respond to a deadly chemical
weapons attack against civilians in Syria.
People
close to the deliberations say Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel, national security adviser Susan Rice and U.N.
Ambassador Samantha Power largely agreed about the need to use force to
punish Syrian President Bashar Assad. While there were some differing
views about the speed and the scope of an attack, there were no
splintered factions the way there had been during first-term debates
over taking action in Libya or launching the raid that killed Osama bin
Laden.
The advisers, two of whom are former
senators, were also willing to proceed without congressional
authorization. But on Friday night, after a week spent speeding toward
military action, the president made a stunning turnabout and decided he
wanted approval from lawmakers before carrying out an attack.
"While
I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action
without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country
will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even
more effective," Obama said as he announced the decision Saturday. "We
should have this debate."
The way the
president arrived at his decision highlights what has been a source of
criticism among Washington's foreign policy thinkers: a president who
has centralized decision-making within the White House and at times
marginalized the State Department and Pentagon.
As
Obama grappled with putting military action to a vote in Congress, he
didn't consult his foreign policy team. Instead, he sought out Denis
McDonough, a longtime adviser who now serves as his chief of staff. And
most of the administration's foreign policy leadership was absent from
the Oval Office meeting Friday night when the president informed several
advisers about his decision to seek congressional approval.
Rice,
a member of the White House staff, was in the room. But Kerry and Hagel
were only informed about the decision later that night during phone
calls from the president.
"All power flows
from and into the White House," said Aaron David Miller, a former
adviser to Democratic and Republican administrations and current vice
president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "He's
relied, not surprisingly, on a very close circle of trusted advisers.
He really is a controlling foreign policy president."
When
the national security team gathered Saturday morning to discuss the
decision, administration officials say there was pushback from some
advisers, though they refused to say who was leading that effort. And at
least publicly, the team now appears to be following the orders of the
commander in chief.
Kerry, the most
recognizable face on Obama's team to most of the public, was dispatched
to all five Sunday talk shows to defend the president's decision. Kerry
and Hagel will also testify Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee - a committee they each served on during their years in the
Senate- as the administration tries to rally votes on Capitol Hill.
The
officials and others close to the deliberations requested anonymity
because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the internal
deliberations.
As the White House appeared to
be nearing imminent military action against Syria, Kerry was among those
pressing for the most aggressive response. Even before being tapped to
lead the State Department, the former Massachusetts senator had been
pushing for stronger action against Syria. He has advocated sending more
and better assistance to the opposition and has backed robust, though
limited, military action to punish the regime and force Assad to change
his calculation for continuing the conflict that has left more than
100,000 people dead.
People close to Kerry say
he was emotionally affected by the images coming out of Syria following
the chemical weapons attack, particularly those of dead and injured
children. He channeled that emotion into two powerful speeches,
including one on Friday that appeared to be a prelude to a military
strike.
"History would judge us all
extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator's wanton
use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings," said Kerry,
reflecting what aides said was his strong belief that action was a moral
imperative.
Kerry made similar arguments
during his turn on the Sunday talk shows, but emphasized that he
supported the president's decision to seek congressional approval.
Hagel,
the former Republican senator now running the Pentagon, spent most of
the Syria debate weighing in from Asia, where he was on a nine-day trip.
While he declared during the trip that the military was "ready to go"
if Obama gave the orders to strike Syria, he also appeared to be focused
on the risks of acting without international backing. And like others
in the Pentagon, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, he
seemed to be considering the unknowable next steps after a limited
military strike, particularly if it roiled adversaries elsewhere in the
Middle East.
Rice and Power kept the lowest
profiles of the new foreign policy team during the Syria debate, both
choosing to make their only public comments on Twitter. But their
140-character statements backed up their reputations as supporters of
intervention for humanitarian purposes.
Rice,
who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations before moving to
the White House earlier this year, wrote that those responsible for the
chemical weapons attack "will be held accountable." And Power, who now
holds the U.N. post, wrote of the "haunting images of entire families
dead in their beds" following the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack.
"Verdict is clear," she wrote. "Assad has used CW's against civilians in violation of international norm."
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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee and AP National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.
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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
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