Many people in our area will be watching and waiting to hear what the President has to say on the country's plans for Syria, especially those with personal ties.
“Who would gas people, who would gas his own people, who would kill 1500 souls in one hour?”
Despite the horrific images pouring out of Syria showing alleged chemical attacks on the country`s rebel forces, many here in this country remain torn if the united states should intervene.
That`s not the case for Syrian native Samir Akach who holds duel citizenships in the U.S. and in his home country.
He says we need to take action against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad now.
“And the longer we wait, the more we believes these lies coming from Bashar al-Assad and his thugs, more souls, more people are going to die,” said Akach.
Living in the U.S. for 12 years, Akach is married with children and is a doctor in the Wyoming Valley.
But the rest of his family, parents, siblings, uncles and aunts are in Syria and he worries for them constantly.
“Me as a physician, when I get a text from my brother telling me, asking my advice what to do when he gets gassed,” said Akach. “How to do you respond to that? What do you tell him, just say your goodbyes?”
As for promises by al-Assad to surrender chemical weapons to avoid an American military strike, Akach believes it's a lie and that the killings and torture will continue.
“He has continued to test the world`s conscientious, continued to escalate despite all the promises that he gave before, he continued to escalate the scale of his murder,” said Akach. “So we either choose to intervene now or intervene later, unfortunately it will be too late for a lot of souls.”
Newswatch 16 wants to know if you agree with the President's request to Congress to take military action on Syria?
