The war-weary rank-and-file

The war-weary rank-and-fileMore than a decade of war in the Middle East has left some members on both sides of the aisle simply tired of military engagement abroad, even if they think the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable.

Rep. Brian Higgins, a Democrat from western New York, raised the specters of Iraq and Afghanistan in opposing Syrian intervention.   

Democrat Rick Nolan of Minnesota is seldom on the same side of a debate as onetime presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann, but both oppose intervention."After 6,668 American troop deaths and tens of thousands of American wounded, after spending $2 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan representing $40,000 in debt for every American family, now is the time to nation-build in America and invest in the growth of the American economy,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “It is not the time for Americans to be subjected to the potential of yet another unwinnable overseas war.”

"We are war-weary,” Nolan said in a Minnesota Public Radio interview. “These wars of choice and this so-called nation-building abroad is bankrupting this country. It’s causing nothing but trouble for us throughout the world and it’s time that this Congress step up.”