Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said on Thursday that the Obama administration should act carefully when engaged in diplomacy regarding the Syria regime’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
Secretary of State John Kerry is currently in Geneva, Switzerland, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussing options for destroying the weapons, Metro News reports.
The word of Syrian President Bashar Assad should be taken lightly, according to Capito, who said trusting Assad to secure the weapons would be questionable because he recently lied about having them.
The announcement made this week by Russia that it would send its international monitors to destroy the weapons was “luck” for President Barack Obama, according to Capito.
“From where I sit, it more appears to be simply, happenstance, or sort of, luck for the president that Russia stepped in and offered a diplomatic solution,” Capito said, Metro News reports.
Capito said her decision to object to a military strike against Syria was based off of conversations her had with her constituents.
“I don’t feel there’s a coalition,” Capito said, WDTV.com reports. “I’ve talked to about 1,000 West Virginians, and I think there’s five who support it. People are adamantly opposed to this. We need to have a global response to this. The United States can’t do it alone, and there’s no proof that in one strike, we would be done.”
Capito is currently the only woman in the West Virginia House of Delegates and serves as chairman on the House Financial Services Committee. A daughter of a World War II veteran, Capito said she has a deep appreciation for the sacrifices made by American servicemen. She has visited armed forced in both Afghanistan and Iraq as well as wounded soldiers across the United States.