President Obama argued Tuesday that the U.S. must act to prevent Syria from using chemical weapons again, asking Americans to support a potential military strike if diplomacy fails. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Between this latest approach to deal with Syria and the debacle with National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, it seems Russian President Vladimir Putin pretty much "owns" President Obama. Russia is the country behind the proposal for Syria to surrender its chemical weapon stockpile.

I don't think we need to intervene in Syria. Obama's handling of the affair has been an overwhelming embarrassment to the United States. The country is already waning in global influence, and Obama has succeeded in rapidly accelerating the demise of the last superpower.

— Kevin McPherson

I think Obama is making a lot of sense. I don't think he should withdraw the option of taking action because there is no way to be sure Syria is going to follow through with turning over its chemical weapons. If it does, great. If it doesn't, Obama should have the option to make sure it does.

This is a serious time. It would be nice if everyone could put their differences aside and show some support for the president.

Linda Cherie Robison Salazar

For more than a week, Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have pushed a campaign to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons on his people. But now Obama says everything will be OK if the chemical weapons are removed?

Obama, acting the fool, put his foot in his mouth with his "red line" comment. His bluff was called, and he threatened military action to save face. He knew the American people were not behind him, so he turned to Congress, but he also knew Congress would turn him down. Putin's offer Is a way for Obama to slink away from his errors.

Anthony Betz

No question that Obama talked himself against the wall and the situation corrected itself for him. It's not the first time a politician just stumbled into a good situation, and it won't be the last.

Bruce Mort

Letter to the editor:

Every sane person in the world is devastated with the use of poison gas, particularly on children. Without being callous, it is still necessary to view the Syrian situation with a critical examination of what is best for the U.S.

Consider that we cannot safely bomb the poisonous gas, which could be devastating to Syrians. Therefore, the plan would be to target something else, likely the distribution system: rockets. We will never win that. Rockets are transportable, can be newly made and are available from both Russia and Iran.

The security of the United States is best served by staying out of this civil war. Our military should never be used unless we are physically attacked and have a clear objective.

Jim Murphy; Germantown, Tenn.

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