Assad Denies Gas Attack - White House Presses a Strike - NYTimes.com WASHINGTON - The White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, said on Sunday that the American people's skepticism about the prospect of military action in Syria was "understandable" after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that such a strike would be far different from those wars. Mr. McDonough appeared on all five major Sunday morning news shows to make the administration's case that Congress should authorize an airstrike against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Mr. Assad, for his part, said in an interview with Charlie Rose of CBS News that his government was not behind a chemical attack that killed hundreds of civilians and injured many more. In the interview, to be broadcast on Monday, Mr. Assad also said that Syria might retaliate if attacked. Mr. Assad, who previously denied he was behind the attack, "suggested that there would be, among people that are aligned with him, some kind of retaliation if a strike was made," Mr. Rose said on CBS's "Face the Nation." Allies of the Assad government include Iran and Hezbollah, the militant Islamist group based in Lebanon. Mr. Rose added, "He had a message to the American people that it had not been a good experience for them to get involved in the Middle East in wars and conflicts." Since President Obama announced last week that he would seek Congressional authorization for a military strike, opposition has mounted among lawmakers and the American people. Mr. McDonough, as part of the administration's attempts to turn the tide, emphasized that a strike on Syria would be narrow in scope. "This is not Iraq or Afghanistan; this is not Libya; this is not an extended air campaign," Mr. McDonough said on CNN's "State of the Union." This is something that's targeted, limited and effective so as to underscore that he should not think that he can get away with this again. In the coming days, senior administration officials including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Secretary of State John Kerry and the national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, will be meeting face to face with members of Congress. Mr. Obama will tape interviews on Monday with ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and CNN, and on Tuesday he is scheduled to address the nation about the need for a military strike. Mr. McDonough said that there was no longer any debate about the veracity of American intelligence on the chemical attack last month. Mr. McDonough said several times that Mr. Assad had repeatedly targeted children. "Not a single one of them so far has rebutted or refused the intelligence, which is to say, everybody agrees that on Aug. 21, Assad used chemical weapons against his own people," Mr. McDonough said on the ABC News program "This Week," referring to members of Congress he has spoken to in recent days. So the question facing Congress this week is a very simple one: Should there be consequences for his having used gases, chemical weapons, to kill more than 1,000 of his own people, including more than 400 children? He added: "The answer to that question will be followed closely in Tehran; the answer to that question will be followed closely in Damascus; the answer to that question will be followed very closely by members of Lebanese Hezbollah."