“We can't let it go unanswered. If we do, our friends won't trust us and our enemies won't respect us,” Sen. John Kennedy told CNN on Tuesday. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Sen. Kennedy: We can't let Syria gas attack 'go unanswered' The Louisiana Republican is requesting a classified intelligence briefing from Secretary Mattis and the Joint Chiefs.

The United States has no choice but to retaliate against Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies for a poison gas attack Saturday in the rebel-held town of Douma that killed dozens of civilians, said Sen. John Kennedy).

“Assad is a butcher, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Iranian Ayatollah are butchers for letting him do it,” Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told CNN. “We can't let it go unanswered. If we do, our friends won't trust us and our enemies won't respect us.”


Kennedy, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he plans to send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday requesting that Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff give lawmakers a classified briefing on the status of America’s presence in Syria, as well as the Islamic State’s proliferation in the region and Russia and Iran’s role in propping up Assad’s government.

“These are fair questions for us to work through with the president,” Kennedy said.

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That intelligence report will serve as the basis for whether Congress recommends further military action in Syria, and will help inform whether lawmakers’ proposals mirror potential plans from the White House to punish Assad, Kennedy said.

“Congress certainly has a role,” he added. “It doesn't have to be adversarial, nor should it.”

