Romney’s Stance On Syria Indistinguishable From Obama

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has thus far remained fairly circumspect about how he would handle the situation in Syria, telling CBS's Scott Pelley: "we have to be ready to take whatever action is necessary to assure that we do not have any kind of weapon of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists."

Romney's rival, President Barack Obama has remained similarly disengaged from Syria. He recently said that the administration is "monitoring the situation closely," but declared that he would only send in troops if Bashar al-Assad chooses to deploy chemical weapons. Obama added that he is absolutely sure that the chemical weapons in Syria are secure.

"We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region, that that's a 'red line' for us, and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front, or the use of chemical weapons," Obama said to White House reporters on August 21. "That would change my calculations significantly."

Obama has also remained rather non-committal on declaring Syria a no-fly zone, despite mounting international support for such a measure, including calls from representatives of the Syrian opposition.

Romney has also said he does not support the idea of a Syrian no-fly zone.

The striking similarity between the two men's' policies has, of course, not stopped their two corresponding campaigns from taking jabs at each other over the Syria issue.

During a panel discussion hosted by the International Republican Institute in late August, former Minnesota GOP Senator Norm Coleman said that Obama was "leading from behind" on Syria and that "the lack of leadership has consequences that in the end make it more difficult to form the kind of coalitions we need to solve problems."

Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania, said that Romney was willing and eager to send troops into Syria, and that Romney's lack of foreign policy experience was a huge blind spot for the Republican nominee.

"He said it was a mistake to end the war in Iraq and bring all of our warriors home," Biden said, according to the AP.

"He said it was a mistake to set an end date for our warriors in Afghanistan and bring them home. He implies by the speech that he's ready to go to war in Syria and Iran."