fifa cotell at brennan center for justice school of law. she is an al jazeera contributor. fiza, can you explain to us: president obama is asking congress for approval for a military strike? >> is there any chance at all left for a diplomatic decision >> i think it's hard to know, but by the time he has declared he is plan to go for a military stri strike, he made the assesses he is not going to be able to influence the assad regime. >> how can we expect congress to act. >> previous commentators have pointed out. nobody knows. this is one of the first major votes in a long time. nobody knows which way this vote is going to go. you have people like john mccain from the republican party saying it's not going to vote against it because he doesn't think it goes far enough. you have more conservative and liberal democrats saying we don't want to get involved in another war. it's unclear how this will play out. >> you have mentioned those who don't want to get involved in the war. what's the price, political price, of inaction? >> well, i think there is a pretty high price actual