© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Congressman Castro Opposes Boots On The Ground In Syria

Eileen Pace
/
TPR News

  The first term congressman from San Antonio expects to return from the congressional recess to a major decision about Syria within the next 10 days.

Congressman Joaquin Castro spoke to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Thursday, and many people were curious about the Syrian situation. Castro said most Americans are not in favor of getting into a war in the embattled state.

"In fact, there was a poll done that showed only 7 percent of Americans would want to see boots on the ground in Syria," he said.

Castro said he is anxious to see what the president proposes, and hopes he will consult with Congress.

"I think he’ll come to a conclusion within the next few days or the next week. And I think it’s something that we’ll be all over when we get back to Washington on Sept. 9," he said.

Castro told the group he is not in favor of putting troops on the ground, but he is remaining open to other actions, such as a targeted, punitive strike

"I think that it’s looking more and more like that," Castro said. "Very targeted strikes that disable the capacity of (Bashar al) Assad to do the same thing. But we’ll see what the administration proposes."

Thousands of Syrian refugees are fleeing eastward to Iraq’s Kurdish region. The Syrian Observatory on Human Rights is posting dozens of tweets each day, listing bombings, chemical attacks and other events, including a mortar shell they said hit near a children’s playground.

Eileen Pace is a veteran radio and print journalist with a long history of investigative and feature reporting in San Antonio and Houston, earning more than 50 awards for investigative reporting, documentaries, long-form series, features, sports stories, outstanding anchoring and best use of sound.