Defense Dept.: Makes case for “limited” attack in Syria; planning for counterattack; cannot provide cost

“New Day” Anchor Chris Cuomo interviewed George Little, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Department of Defense, during CNN special “Syria in Crisis: A Town Hall Special.” Little highlighted the administration’s case for a “limited” attack, stopping short of a war like those in Iraq and Afghanistan, but could not provide how much the recommended military action would cost. In preparing for a counterattack, he said that they “can never take the risk down to zero” but the administration is planning with its partners to mitigate those risks.

“Chris, our basis for what might be a military operation is absolutely solid. This is a common sense case, not just from our intelligence, but from public images. The camera footage and the photographs that are coming out of Syria, we know this was a chemical attack, we know that it was perpetrated by the Assad regime,” Little said. “It’s deplorable behavior and we’re not alone in that assessment. The British, the French, and others have pinned the rose on the Syrian regime. And we’re very confident in the facts that we have developed.”

On preparing for possibly counterattack, Little said, “We are absolutely clear-eyed and we’ve been planning ourselves and with our partners, particularly in the region of Turkey and Israel and Jordan and others. We understand that we can never take the risk down to zero, but we believe that we can take steps to mitigate those risks. And that has factored squarely into our planning.”

“Syria in Crisis: A Town Hall Special” aired on Thursday, September 5 at 9 p.m. ET during “Piers Morgan Live.”

FULL TRANSCRIPT: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1309/05/pmt.01.html