Rep. Barbara Lee: Syria Strike Would Cause More Strife

California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee said Sunday that retaliation by the United States against Syrian President Bashar Assad will cause more strife in a country whose civilians are dying from the dictator's chemical-weapons attacks.

"For me, first of all, these crimes against humanity … it's horrendous, it's outrageous, no one can tolerate this," Lee, a Democrat, said on CNN's "State of the Union." "What I worry about is more of this. More retaliation. More use of force. More efforts to escalate the war by other countries in the region. And so I worry that the unintended consequences could even be more stark and dire."

Lee said lobbing missiles at the country "leads us further away from the possibility of a negotiated settlement."

"I'm very reluctant to authorize the use of force, because I think the ramifications and the unintended consequences could be very grave," she said, adding the United States could become "even more isolated in the world if, in fact, we do not have the full backing of the international community."

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said earlier in the program the United States has no military support for such strikes.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, of Virginia, agreed with Lee's position opposing the authorization, calling it open-ended.

"Open-ended resolutions are not welcome and will not pass the House, and I won't vote for them," Connolly said. "Whether anything could pass the House, frankly, is quite problematic."