Good morning and welcome to The Rundown, whose editors are tanned, rested, and ready. For what?

We're waiting to hear what Congress tells us, because in the new Washington, Congress decides everything. Suggestions? Complaints? You know where to find us. Best, Your AEI Foreign and Defense Policy Studies team

Tweet of the Week

Katherine Zimmerman @katiezimmerman What message do we send if we debate military action for 10 days, decide to take it, and then wait for Congress to come back from recess?

In the News
Syria
The Obama administration launched what it described as a flood the zone campaign to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Syria. Thomas Donnelly's Weekly Standard piece "Worse isn't better" argues that "there are no easy answers to the war in Syriathe opportunities of the last few years are gone. But Americas failure to act has allowed things to get worse, if not actually made them worse. Letting things get still worse is not merely a moral obscenity but a grave strategic miscalculation. And, by intervening fecklessly for the narrow purpose of upholding a 'norm' observed only by ourselves, we are very likely to make things worse." The op-ed will also run in the September 9 edition of the print magazine. Danielle Pletka's latest blog for AEIdeas, "Obama on Syria: This time I really, really mean it ," asserts that "it would be a great pleasure to slam those who are questioning the presidents motives and strategic vision. But I cant. At the end of the day, I can only say what I have said dozens of times: We care about the

outcome in Syria, despite the fact that the president has by his hemming and hawing effectively embraced the notion that we do not. Keep an eye on AEIs Syria special topic page this week for the latest news and analysis on Syria, including a piece by Pletka for McClatchy. Pletka will also be appearing on C-Spans Washington Journal on Wednesday morning.

Al Qaeda
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad claimed to be fighting the same war as the US and the West . He alleged in an interview this weekend that 80 to 90 percent of the rebels fighting his regime were terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda. Katherine Zimmerman of AEI's Critical Threats Project is coming out with a blockbuster report on al Qaeda. Zimmerman dissects the terrorist conglomerate down to its component parts, eyeballs leadership strategy and ambitions, and pinpoints the reasons why the US is not going to land a knock-out blow against the group anytime soon. There will be a rollout event for the report on September 10, featuring a keynote by Representative Tom Cotton (R-AR).

Politics and National Security

The Obama administrations push for congressional approval of a str ike on Syrian regime targets appears to have won the tentative support of Senator John McCain (R-AZ). On the AEIdeas blog, AEI fellow Marc Thiessen takes a closer look at the Obama-Kerry flip-flop on unilateralism. Thiessen maintains that "Liberals painted Bush as the go-it-alone unilateralist who alienated our allies, and promised that Democrats would usher in a new era of international cooperation. But while Bush rallied 30-countries to send ground forces to Iraq (after a four-nation led invasion), Obama cant seem to find anyone to join him in firing a simple 'shot across the bow' in Syria." Check out Thiessen's op-ed on Syria in The Washington Post. He writes, We are about to see the birth of a new Obama Doctrine: military action just muscular enough not to get mocked.

Asia
During a week-long tour in Asia, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel stressed the need to build trust between

the US and its Association of Southeast Asian Nations partners by expanding collaboration and capabilities. Michael Auslin's interview with Voice of America argues that "Syria is knocking Obama off his Asian mojo . . . Not because Syria is that significant but because it is a perfect encapsulation of the problem of saying we are choosing between regions and yet not really being able to and then leaving the area that you said you were going to focus on somewhat in the lurch." For more on how the conflict in Syria will affect the US pivot to Asia, watch Auslin's interview on Voice of America.

Best of Blogs
Here is the best of what AEI's foreign and defense policy scholars are reading this week: Walter Russell Mead at The American Interest: Obama and the Sybil Victor Davis Hanson at National Review: The Israeli spring David Ignatius at The Washington Post: In Syria, U.S. credibility is at stake Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary magazine: The real West Bank terror war Zackary Keck at The Diplomat: Putin's Russia: The pretend great power Bret Stephens at The Wall Street Journal: Target Assad Eli Lake at Daily Beast: How Iran would retaliate to a U.S. strike on Syria Seth Cropsey at The Weekly Standard: Hagel's navy Leon Wieseltier at The New Republic: A cop out in the shape of a cruise missile Elliott Abrams in National Review: Obama's halfway effort in Syria Ai Weiwei in Bloomberg View: China's trial of the century Michael Hirsh at The Atlantic: Can Obama make the case for an attack on Syria?

Plan Ahead

With only half of planned surface-ship availabilities ready for 2014 and with current budget realities potentially reducing the number of "surge-ready" carrier-strike groups by two-thirds, the Navy's worldwide presence is at risk of serious downsizing. On September 5, join AEIs Jon Kyl as he hosts Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations. This will be the third installment in a series of four events with each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sponsored by the Marilyn Ware Center. As Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe strives to revive his countrys economic growth, Japan continues to grapple with a scarcity of natural resources that are most critical to its economic well-being and national security. On September 11, Representative Michael Turner (R-OH), cosponsor of the House Expedited LNG for American Allies Act of 2013, will provide a keynote address on how both the US and Japan can take advantage of the convergence of Tokyos quest with Americas pivot and energy boom. RSVP here, and read AEIs recently released report here.

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