From NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.Congress returns to work tomorrow after its summer break,and lawmakers will be faced with the pivotal decisionof whether to launch military strikes against Syria after its alleged use of chemical weapons.Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez told NBC's Meet the Press thatshe doesn't see the use of chemical weapons as a threat to US national securitythat justifies military strikes."It isn't about national security,and I haven't heard any of our interests.I haven't heard that Assad wants to use the weapons against us.I haven't heard that he wants to use the weapons against our allies,that he is moving them to terrorist organizations."President Obama is expected to meet with Senate Democrats at the capital on Tuesdayto solicit their support for military action in Syria,will then address the nation later that evening.The president and Vice President Joe Biden tonight courted GOP senators at Biden's mansion.Syrian President Bashar Assad saysthere is no conclusive evidence about who's to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.Television journalist Charlie Rose recently interviewed Assad.Rose says the Syrian president thinksit would be a mistake for the US to go through with the threatened military strikes against the country."He had a message to the American people thatit had not been a good experience for them to get involved in the Middle East in wars and conflicts in the Middle East,that the result had not been good,and that they should not get involved,and that they should communicate to their Congress and to their leadership in Washington not to authorize a strike."
