As president Barack Obama seeks congressional approval to order military strikes in Syria, senator John McCain weighed in on the issue by saying that he would support the strikes if they would ''reverse the situation on the battlefield,'' and that it would be "catastrophic" if congress votes against it.

Obama has called for controversial military strikes in response to Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons against their own people. Syrian president Bashar Assad and the nation's government is said to have killed at least 1,429 people -- including at least 426 children -- as rebels have continued to fight back. Obama said the attacks he wants to carry out would be limited and that he would wait for the approval.

McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham released a statement together on Saturday about the situation. They want there to be action but not only in limited strikes.

"[W]e cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes in Syria that are not part of an overall strategy that can change the momentum on the battlefield, achieve the President's stated goal of Assad's removal from power, and bring an end to this conflict, which is a growing threat to our national security interests," they said.

The American people have been skeptical about the idea of an attack, especially since the Iraq War failed as people were misled into believing that there were weapons of mass destruction. Thus, the government faces an uphill battle to prove to the people that Assad actually used chemical weapons. Secretary of State John Kerry was defensive when speaking on CNN, saying that the government found that hair samples "tested positive for signatures of sarin" gas.

"We know that the regime ordered this attack, we know they prepared for it," Kerry said. "We know where the rockets came from. We know where they landed. We know the damage that was done afterwards. We've seen the horrific scenes all over the social media, and we have evidence of it in other ways."