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Mississippians Speak Out on Syria

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Mississippians are still divided on whether the U.S. should take military action in Syria; even after President Obama's remarks on Tuesday.

 Since President Obama unveiled his plan to use military force in Syria, Mississippians have been debating the merits of an intervention in the Middle East.

 Phil Carpenter is from Pearl, and he's a Communications Specialist in the U.S. Army. It's his view that using military force in Syria is an unpopular idea among some members of the armed forces.

 "It is one that I share with a lot of my battle buddies. Yes, it's sad. It's not that I don't feel for them, I do. It's terrible what happened, but I feel like we have enough problems at home right now. Let's try fixing things here," said Carpenter.

 Specialist Carpenter's lack of enthusiasm for military intervention was similar to Jackson resident Judith Turnage's view. Turnage said that despite usually backing the president's agenda she can't approve of a military strike in Syria.

 "I'm a Barack Obama supporter from way back, but I just don't see that there is any objective to be achieved by attacking. Just blindly attacking," said Turnage.

 However, not every Mississippians is against using force. The president was able to garner support from Sheila Hooke of Clinton. She said she supports using limited military force.

 "I'm really not feeling it right now, and them offering to give their weapons to Russia doesn't sit well with me. Russia's not a really good ally of ours. I really don't trust that too much. So, I do think we need to step in a little bit, and show that we're not going to just sit back and let things happen." said Hooke.

 Nearly every member of Mississippi's Congressional delegation says that they will not support military action against in Syria. Only Senator Thad Chocran remains undecided.