From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Speer.Two key Republican lawmakers who've been pushing for a military strike against Syriamet today with President Obama at the White House.Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham emerging from the meetingto say they want Syria's government to be punished for its apparent use of chemical weapons.However, McCain saysa public worry of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wants no involvement of US troops."Americans are skeptical.We've gone for two and a half years without helping these people.Obviously people are weary after Iraq and Afghanistan.Americans have to be assured that no plan will entail American boots on the ground,and we totally are in agreement with that."Twelve members of the president's foreign policy team were set to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,as the White House continues to try to build support for action against Syria.The French government, meanwhile, saysit has overwhelming evidence the regime of Bashar al-Assad gassed its own people.NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reportsFrance says the massive chemical attack near Damascus last monthcould not have been ordered and carried out by anyone but the Syrian government.Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault made public the French Secret Services'nine-page report into the incidentdrawn up by military and foreign intelligence services.It says Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons is massive and diverse,comprising several hundred tons of the nerve agent sarinand dozens of tons of the most toxic nerve agent VX.The report also says the Syrian regime has carried out three chemical attacks since April.That's why the international community must respond, said Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
