John McCain 'to say US should bomb Syria' The Republican candidate for the presidency in 2008 will become the first senior figure in US politics to call publicly for military intervention in Syria, according to a copy of a speech obtained by The Cable, a foreign policy blog. Mr McCain will tell the Senate that America must secure the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad. Providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups is necessary, but at this late hour, that alone will not be sufficient to stop the slaughter and save innocent lives. The only realistic way to do so is with foreign air power," he will tell the Senate. The US air force should "suppress enemy air defences in at least part of the country," with aim of creating "safe havens" where "opposition forces can organise and plan their political and military activities against Assad," he will add. Mr McCain is expected to say: "The kinds of mass atrocities that Nato intervened in Libya to prevent in Benghazi are now a reality in Homs. Indeed, Syria today is the scene of some of the worst state-sponsored violence since Milosevic's war crimes in the Balkans, or Russia's annihilation of the Chechen city of Grozny.