Obama: U.S. Influence in Syria is ‘Overstated’

Clearly concerned about the U.S. legacy in Iraq, the ongoing war in Afghanistan and Americans’ reluctance to get drawn into another bloody mess in the Mideast, President Obama said Friday he is very cautious about taking action in Syria and Egypt.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Obama also questioned just how much influence the United States has in the region.

“What I do believe is that, although the situation in Syria is very difficult,” Obama said, “the notion that the U.S. can somehow solve what is a sectarian, complex problem inside of Syria sometimes is overstated.”

With new reports of alleged chemical attacks in Syria, reportedly carried out by the Assad regime, there’s been growing calls for the United States and its allies to get involved. But while Obama called these reports “a grave concern,” he also said it’s just not that simple to intervene to stop the deadly two-year civil war there.

“What I think the American people also expect me to do as president is to think through what we do from the perspective of, what is in our long-term national interests? And, you know, sometimes what we've seen is that folks will call for immediate action, jumping into stuff, that does not turn out well, gets us mired in very difficult situations, can result in us being drawn into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region,” he said.

“So, you know, we remain the one indispensable nation. There's a reason why, when you listen to what's happened around Egypt and Syria, that everybody asks what the U.S. is doing. It's because the United States continues to be the one country that people expect can do more than just simply protect their borders,” Obama said. “But that does not mean that we have to get involved with everything immediately. We have to think through strategically what's going to be in our long-term national interests, even as we work cooperatively internationally to do everything we can to put pressure on those who would kill innocent civilians.”

Obama also said that the U.S. has to follow international law. “If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, do we have the coalition to make it work, and, you know, those are considerations that we have to take into account,” he said.

Obama also said he’s very aware that many Americans want to focus more on domestic issues, after enduring more than a decade of major ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Keep in mind also,” he said, “because I know the American people keep this in mind – we’re still got a war going on in Afghanistan.”

[Related: Whispers in the Ranks that Iraq Has Turned Obama Isolationist to a Fault]

As for Egypt, the president said he’s “doing a full evaluation of the U.S.-Egyptian relationship.”

“We care deeply about the Egyptian people. This is a partnership that's been very important to us, in part because of the peace treaty with Israel and the work that's been done to deal with the Sinai.

But there's no doubt that we can't return to business as usual, given what's happened. There was a space right after Mr. Morsi was removed in which we did a lot of heavy lifting and a lot of diplomatic work to try to encourage the military to move in a path of reconciliation. They did not take that opportunity,” he said.

Obama also said he’s not sure if cutting off military aid to Egypt will help the situation there. “My sense with Egypt is that the aid itself may not reverse what the interim government does,” he said, adding that he has to take into account the “long-term interest of the United States” in the region.

Obama defended the National Security Agency’s surveillance program but also suggested that the agency might want to hire a “public advocate” who can help make sure there’s enough oversight and transparency.

“There's no doubt that, for all the work that's been done to protect the American people's privacy, the capabilities of the NSA are scary to people,” he said. “And, by the way, these aren't unique to the NSA. I mean, we've got a whole bunch of other countries out there who have these capabilities. One of the challenges that we have is, even as we put in safeguards to make sure that the U.S. government doesn't abuse -- abuse these capabilities, we've also got to make sure that foreign governments aren't hacking into our banks, aren't hacking into our critical infrastructure, are making sure that consumers are protected.”

Read the full transcript of the interview here.