Now McCain says he WON'T back Syria resolution as Obama says 'my credibility's not on the line'

In Sweden, Obama warns Congress not to 'sit on the sidelines [and] snipe'

A current draft resolution in the Senate doesn't include any ground troops, and would limit military action to a 90-day window



A day after McCain said congressional inaction would be 'catastrophic' for America, his office concedes that he 'does not support' the proposal



Obama insists that he doesn't need Congress' approval, but McCain fires back that going to Capitol Hill instead of taking action was a mistake



McCain is the first of Obama's hard-won GOP cheerleaders to start bailing water, in a 180-degree shift from comments just 24 hours age

John McCain today said he will not back a use-of-force resolution to be voted on by lawmakers – l ess than 24 hours after warning of a 'catastrophic' end to President Obama's Syria saga if Congress refused to back the proposal.

The Republican senator for Arizona said it was a mistake for the president to approach legislators in the first place, and said he believes the resolution is too weak in its current form.

But Obama shot back from across the Atlantic ocean during a trip to Sweden that Congress should do more than 'sit on the sidelines [and] snipe.'



A resolution crafted by New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker would limit military action to 90 days, and would make no provision for American ground troops entering Syria.



A McCain aide told MailOnline Wednesday that the senator 'does not support' that resolution.

McCain would vote 'no,' he said on NBC's Today show, if his only other option was 'to do something that really doesn’t change anything – in other words, some token strikes, and then some time later, [Assad] uses those chemical weapons again.'

'What then? Go through the same routine?'

Speaking during a press conference with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, Obama insisted he ultimately does not need Congress' permission to strike Syria, even though he has asked for it.



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Not my 'red line': Obama cast the U.S. ultimatum against Syria as the work of Congress and the international community

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) has allegedly hidden military hardware and chemical weapons smuggled out of Iraq during the early days of the first Gulf War. Some of those weapons were used against Syrian civilians in late August

Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt are meeting in Stockholm ahead of the upcoming G-20 summit

'As commander in chief, I always preserve the right and the responsibility to act on behalf of America’s national security,' Obama said. 'I do not believe that I was required to take this to Congress ... I did not take this to Congress just because it’s an empty exercise; I think it’s important to have Congress’s support on it.'

In Washington, McCain said that Congress should only support measures that can 'reverse the situation on the battlefield.'

'It's an unfair fight. Russian weapons are pouring in, Iranian weapons are pouring in. Have no doubt, this is a proxy war, and the Iranians are the ones who will gain or lose by this.'

'I have to see the concrete action' from the Obama administration, he said on the CBS This Morning program. 'And it's not that I don't trust the word of the president. 'It's just that I need to see the concrete measures that are going to be taken.'

'And if we don't take those concrete measures and if the resolution doesn't allow it, then obviously I can’t support it. It’s almost as bad as not passing a resolution, is passing a resolution that doesn’t allow us to take action that reverses the situation on the battlefield so that Bashar al-Assad will sooner or later leave. The only way he’s going to leave is if he thinks he’s losing.'

Obama announced Saturday that he would take the unusual step of asking for congressional approval before engaging in a limited bombing campaign in Syria.

McCain said Wednesday morning that this was a mistake.



Hundreds of children were among the more than 1,400 killed by what U.S. officials have called a sarin nerve gas attack in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus on August 21

Protesters in northern Syria carried banners on Aug. 30 during a demonstration calling for international action against the Assad regime

'Once he announced that we were going to have strikes, I think he should have acted, as other presidents have, both Republican or Democrat,' McCain said. 'But it is what it is. The word of the President of the United States is out there in the world that we will not stand him crossing a red line. And not only did he say that, he said that there would be strikes against those persecutors. Obviously that’s Assad.'

THE SYRIA JOINT RESOLUTION

Sens. Bob Menendez and Bob Corker have floated a proposal that would outline the conditions for U.S. bombing campaigns in Syria. 'The President is authorized ... to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in a limited and tailored manner against legitimate military targets in Syria,' it reads. Action could be taken 'only to: (1) respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction by the Syrian government in the conflict in Syria; (2) deter Syria’s use of such weapons in order to protect the national security interests of the United States and to protect our allies and partners against the use of such weapons; and (3) degrade Syria’s capacity to use such weapons in the future.' Most critically, Congress would 'not authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces on the ground in Syria for the purpose of combat operations.'

The authorization would expire in 60 days, but President Obama would have the option to extend it a single time for another 30 days.



'So then for the United States to do nothing will have a ripple effect all over the world.'

Obama said Wednesday that bringing the matter to Congress had been 'brewing in my mind for some time,' suggesting that it was part of his broader Middle East plan long before he made the surprising public announcement.

In Sweden, the president claimed that his 2012 'red line' speech, in which he warned Assad that the use of chemical weapons would have dire consequences, was also a conscious tactic.

'That wasn't something I just kind of made up,' Obama said. 'I didn't just pluck it out of thin air.'



He insisted that 'my credibility's not on the line.'

'The international community's credibility is on the line,' Obama said, 'and America's and Congress's credibility's on the line.'

'I didn't set a red line,' Obama said. 'The world set a red line.'



And Congress, he claimed, 'set a red line when it ratified that treaty.'

Obama added that he 'believe[s] that Congress will approve it' a resolution, but maintained that 'I do not believe that I was required to take this to Congress.'



The president, who received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, declined to answer a question about whether he would bomb Syria on his own if Congress declines to approve military action.

What a difference a day makes: McCain (L) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) said yesterday that President Obama made them comfortable with his plan to attack the Syrian regime

'They call him the Maverick...' -- McCain was calling a $100 bet (in fake money) as Secretary of State John Kerry made the case for bombing Syria

Cruise missiles' arrival on targets there, however, might happen far more quickly than other U.S. shipments of Syria-related war materiel.



The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that three months after the White House authorized the CIA to arm some of the resistance fighters opposing the Assad regime, they are still waiting.

The delay was attributed to an abundance of caution in ensuring the weapons don't fall into the hands of other resistance elements who identify with extremist jihadi causes.

McCain has made news three times in the past 24 hours, including his initial declaration Tuesday that it would be 'catastrophic' if Congress withheld its support from the White House, and an Associated Press photographer's snapshot of him playing poker on his iPhone during a marathon Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the matter.

