While there is no place I would rather be than home in Minnesota, spending this time with friends, neighbors and working families, I have been called back to Washington by the Democratic leadership for classified briefings on the rapidly escalating crisis in Syria, and the critical question of American military involvement in that troubled land.

I want you to know that I am vehemently opposed to a military strike that would clearly be an act of war against Syria, especially under such tragic yet confusing circumstances as to who is responsible for the use of chemical weapons. Beyond the potential for escalating the conflict and the killing, we risk danger to our ally Israel, involvement by the Russians and the Iranians, and blowback to the United States by radical groups operating in the region.