Syrian Flag (Wikimedia Commons)

President Obama told the nation on Sept. 10, that he is exploring diplomatic options to end chemical warfare in Syria, but said that a U.S. intervention was still a possibility. 

Cassidy Gale, a freshman at the University of Southern California, said she thinks that President Obama should focus more on solving problems that already exist in his own country rather than entering a new conflict. 

“This (possibility of intervention) brings into question the limit of the United States. When are we not going to be the Big Brother any more?” she said. “We have a lot of domestic issues like education and we’re still trying to get troops out of Iraq.”

Obama asked Senators to delay a vote to authorize missile strikes on Sept. 10 to allow for negotiations, though some Angelenos think the president should take military action.

“I think it’s dangerous to allow a country to get away with biological weapons use without any kind of backlash or response,” said Eric Newland, 25, a Lake Tahoe, Calif. resident. “I think it opens a very dangerous door.”

Allowing a country to get away with using chemical weapons against its own people violates United Nations sanctions, argued Obama, and not doing anything about it could seem hypocritical. But like many Angelenos, top countries firmly opposed military action against Syria without a U.N. nod of approval.

And since Syrian leadership admitted Tuesday that they possessed chemical weapons and agreed to stop producing them, Russia's proposal to take Syria's chemical weapon stockpile and put it under international control could be a crucial breakthough. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to meet with his Russian counterpart on Thursday to discuss ways to ensure this happens. 

Like most Americans, those in L.A. are crossing their fingers that the U.S. will not engage in any type of military intervention.

“I have memories of the war in Iraq and how awful it turned out," said Nima Heydari, 26, a student at USC’s Gould Law School. "I would not want to have any more troops lose their lives over a conflict that really doesn’t have to do with us,”

Reach Staff Reporter Anne Artley here