Corker: US already in ‘Putin’s lap’

by Jesse Byrnes - 10/01/15 11:01 AM ET

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Thursday that before Russia began airstrikes in Syria this week the United States had jumped into the lap of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recalled the Obama administration opting not to conduct a brief operation to aid moderate rebels after Syrian President Bashar Assad defied the U.S. “red line” on using chemical weapons in 2013.

{mosads}”When we didn’t do that, I was in the region thereafter and that is exactly what was said. Some of our allies, Joe, that were going to be part of that operation didn’t even know it was called off,” he told host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“They watched the president go out into the Rose Garden and announce that we were not going to conduct this operation and instead figuratively we were going to jump in Putin’s lap and work something out relative to the chemical weapons,” Corker said.

The Tennessee Republican suggested the U.S. lacks credibility in the region because it had not been a reliable player there.

Russia started conducting airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday. While the strikes come amid mutual efforts against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), they are also seen as supporting Assad’s regime, which the Obama administration wants to remove from power.

“Recognize Vladimir Putin for who he is and what he is,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on CNN’s “New Day” on Thursday, suggesting Putin was moving to reestablish Russian power, including exuding new influence in the Middle East.

Tags Bob Corker John McCain