Congressman Scott DesJarlais, M.D. (R-TN-04) released the following statement in response to President Obama’s address on Syria:

“The best possible outcome for the situation in Syria is for Bashar al-Assad to surrender any chemical weapons in his possession to the international community. As I have said from the beginning, it would be a grave mistake for the United States to unilaterally commit military forces in Syria’s civil war. In this instance, a diplomatic approach is the correct approach. It is rather unfortunate, however, that the Obama administration put itself in this position in the first place and had to look to Russia to provide a solution for preventing an armed conflict.”