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On Tuesday night, President Obama spoke to theAmerican people about Syria.
He aimed to give a moral argument for why the U.S. military should get involved, and thenexplained why he thinks what's happening in Syria can potentially affect the United States.
If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons.
As the ban against these weaponserodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas and usingthem.
Over time, our troops would again face the prospect of chemical warfare on the battle field.
And it could be easier for terrorist organizations to obtain these weapons and to use them toattack civilians.
The president talked about the idea of a strike against Syria.
He also discussed a diplomatic proposal from Russia.
I determined that it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond tothe Assad regime's use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike.
But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without theuses of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad's strongest allies.
I have therefore asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use offorce, while we pursue these diplomatic path.
That next step is for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to meet with Russian foreign ministerSergey Lavrov that starts today in Geneva, Switzerland.
So, President Obama made his case on Tuesday.
Some members of Congress said they weren't convinced.
What I'm arguing is that what the president has planned is not going to accomplish what hesays he's going to accomplish, which is to punish Assad for this.
I think Assad personally will not be held accountable for this.
I also think that even if the diplomatic solution occurs, that he still may not be accountable.
Next story today takes us to Libya.
One city in the North African nation has been the site of multiple attacks against diplomaticmissions and officials.
Yesterday, a car bomb exploded outside of a foreign ministry building in Benghazi.
Large parts of the buildings out of walls were flown away, but there were no casualties, andonly one minor injury was reported.
This happened on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.
In one year to the day after a terrorist attack against the U.S.facility in Benghazi, Libya.
In 2012 the U.S. consulate building there was targeted.
This video was shot inside the consulate afterward.
Four Americans were killed in that assault, including U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens,
some lawmakers criticized President Obama and his administration for their response to thatattack and for not providing enough security before it happened.
Yesterday, we marked anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on the United States, andAmericans paused to honor the victims of that day.
In New York City, there were moments of silence.
Family members read the names of the people who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001.
People gathered at the Pentagon to remember lost loved ones.
President Obama was there, saying, "Our hearts still ache for the futures snatched away."
