Former President George W. Bush, in an interview, said Obama has a “touch choice to make” on potential U.S. military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of using chemical weapons against civilians.

“If he decides to use our military, he’ll have the greatest military ever backing him up,” Bush said in an appearance on Fox News. …

That option, former President Jimmy Carter said Friday, would be a grave mistake.

“A punitive military response without a U.N. Security Council mandate or broad support from NATO and the Arab League would be illegal under international law and unlikely to alter the course of the war,” he wrote in a statement. “It will only harden existing positions and postpone a sorely needed political process to put an end to the catastrophic violence.”