President  Barack Obama  pledged on Tuesday to explore a diplomatic plan from  Russia  to take away Syria's chemical weapons, but voiced skepticism about it and urged Americans to support his threat to use military force if needed. Faced with resistance in polls and...

  Russian President Vladimir Putin set a condition that endangers the diplomatic initiative to eliminate  Syria ’s chemical weapons, saying it depends on the U.S. and other nations renouncing the use of force against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Putin’s remarks complicate...

At home and abroad, America's disastrous war in Iraq hangs over the debate on Syria, feeding skepticism that US military action can deliver as promised. "It's the elephant in the room," said Larry Korb, a former Pentagon official and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress....

 The White House is making a big push to rally members of Congress and the American public behind President Barack Obama's plan for a U.S. military strike against Syria. His administration says the government of Syrian President Bassar Assad used chemical weapons in an attack last month...