U.S. influence in the world has been undermined by inconsistencies in America’s foreign policy, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said today at the start of confirmation hearings on Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the Syrian chemical attacks this week might have been avoided if former President Obama had taken stronger action when Syrian Leader Bashar al-Assad deployed chemical weapons in 2013. Corker also chided President Trump for seeming to speak or act impulsively in his foreign policy decisions.
“Our country’s standing in the world has been on the decline over the past decade or more, and that certainly continues,” Corker said as confirmation hearings began for Pompei, the CIA director who is nominated to succeed Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. “The chasm between what our leaders say and the actions that they take can have a devastating impact.”
“I think about where Syria would be today had we done what we said in 2013 when the opposition posed a significant threat to the regime,” Corker said. “Assad crossed the red line, used chemical weapons, and we did nothing. The loss of momentum was palpable.”
Corker said Pompeo, if confirmed as Secretary of State, needs to help provide a more stable and reliable foreign policy for the White House.