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McCain on Syria: Any resolution must include authority to attack air defenses

McCain on Syria: Authorization from Congress must change the balance of power and give the rebels a fighting chance.

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., discusses the the crisis in Syria during a TV news interview before participating in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today with Secretary of State John Kerry, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 3. President Obama won conditional support Monday from two of his Republican foreign policy critics, Sen. McCain, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
  • By Associated Press

| WASHINGTON

Sen. John McCain says he will support President Barack Obama's request to intervene inSyria if the move would "reverse the situation on the battlefield."

McCain tells NBC it isn't sufficient to merely send a strong message to President Bashar Assad with a limited-range response. McCain says a resolution of intervention must include authority to degrade Syria's air defenses. The Republican says "it's an unfair fight" on the ground and that Assad has the upper hand.

McCain says if authorization from Congress doesn't change the balance of power and give the rebels a fighting chance, then it "will not have the desired effect."

Obama's former rival for the White House says he "cannot support something that might be doomed in the long run."

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