Former Defense Secretaries Scolds Obama On Syria

Two former defense secretaries who served under President Barack Obama have leveled surprisingly harsh criticism at the administration's handling of the Syrian crisis.

Robert Gates and Leon Panetta appeared jointly at a forum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas on Tuesday, and criticized Obama for asking Congress to authorize military force in response to a chemical weapons attack the United States blames on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Gates said Obama's proposed attack was a mistake, while Panetta asserted it was a mistake not to go forward with a strike on Syria, The New York Times reported.

Gates, who served under George Bush and remained in office under Obama until July 2011, said: "My bottom line is that I believe that to blow a bunch of stuff up over a couple of days, to underscore or validate a point or a principle, is not a strategy.

"If we launch a military attack, in the eyes of a lot of people we become the villain instead of Assad."

Panetta, who replaced Gates and left office in February, said Obama should have followed through on his pledge to act if Syria used chemical weapons: "When the president of the United States draws a red line, the credibility of this country is dependent on him backing up his word."

Panetta said it was wrong to "subcontract" the decision to Congress, stating that the president "has to retain the responsibility and the authority on this issue."

Gates agreed it was wrong to seek authorization from Congress, because if Congress rebuffed him "it would weaken him. It would weaken us in the eyes of our allies, as well as our adversaries around the world."

Gates also said he is skeptical about Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to work out a deal with Syria to remove its chemical weapons, and about Syria's intentions to disarm.

Russia insists that rebels carried out the chemical weapons attack, which the United States says killed more than 1,400 people. But the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that rocket trajectories detailed in a United Nations report suggested the poison gas shells had been fired from a base belonging to the Republican Guard, run by Assad's brother Maher.

Asked if the West should trust Putin, Gates said: "Are you kidding me?"