Obama to debate Congress before striking Syria

President Barack Obama said Saturday he has decided the United States should take limited military action against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack on the Syrian people. But he said he has also decided to not do so until Congress has a chance to authorize a strike when it returns in September.

Obama said he was looking forward to the debate with Congress over the issue, indicating he doesn’t sense any urgency in what many thought would be an imminent strike, especially with the movement of Navy ships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Congressional lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Washington until Sept. 9.

In his remarks from the White House Rose Garden, the president said “our country will be better off” if Congress renders its own opinion.

A U.S. strike would be in response to a chemical weapons attack the U.S. government says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government carried out against civilians. The United States says more than 1,400 Syrians were killed in that attack last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.