That position was a controversial one when the talk centered around starting a war with Congress in recess.

Now, having sought Congressional authorization and facing a defeat in the House, the White House is refusing to rule out attacking Syria over the explicit objections of Congress.

Obama continues to demand Congress authorize the war, saying it would set the stage for military intervention in Syria and beyond.

In practice Congress has been abrogating its foreign policy clout to the executive branch for generations now, and has recently been willing to look the other way on aggressive wars started by presidents.

But being asked, rejecting the war, then seeing it happen anyhow would be many steps farther than any president has ever attempted to go, and would oblige Congress to respond forcefully.

Aide Tony Blinken seemed to downplay that prospect, saying there was “no intention” to do so, but with officials continually insisting they don’t expect to lose the House vote, that’s nowhere close to ruling it out.

Likewise, US Ambassador to the United National Samantha Power continued to talk of war as an inevitability, declaring today that the US has no alternative but to attack Syria at this point, seemingly in spite of broad public opposition and an impending Congressional rebuke.

The US is planning to attack Syria over conflicting reports of an alleged chemical attack that the White House rushed to blame on Syrian government before any investigations were carried out.

The Syrian government categorically denied the accusations and said it was a false-flag operation by foreign-backed militants to open the way for the military intervention of US and other regional and Western supporters.

The US had said before that it would only enter the Syria war if a chemical attack was carried out, and only by the government.

Syria has already filed several reports of militants’ use of chemical weapons on civilians and Syrian soldiers to the UN.

According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, nearly six in 10 in the US are opposed to missile strikes on Syria.

Some 70 percent of Americans also oppose Washington and its allies providing militant groups in Syria with weapons, according to the poll.

SHI/SHI