Speaking at a conference in Washington in the build-up to the US Congressional vote on Syrian intervention former Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar has slammed world leaders on the issue of intervention in Syria.

Aznar stated, “This landscape of confusion is extremely serious and is no good in political terms. This is an expression of a lack of a vision and a lack of a political idea, and the lack of a narrative.”

Aznar criticised US President Barack Obama’s failure of leadership on the matter, claiming that the decision to seek Congressional approval “may not be wise”.

Reflecting on British Prime Minister David Cameron’s defeat in the House of Commons vote last week, Aznar said: “It is almost unbelievable to think that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was defeated in the parliament about this issue. It is a very special situation to see the [US] president decide to establish an operation, stop the operation and seek approval [from Congress]. The message to the rest of the world is very complicated.”

Aznar, who led Spain into the Multi-National Force that helped depose Saddam Hussein in Iraq, stated that he believed the issue of Syria needed leadership, and that the US constitution did not require Obama to seek Congressional approval for military action.

Aznar distinguished between the proposed intervention and “war”, the latter of which is covered by the War Powers Act.

He said: “the mistake was not intervening in the beginning… the second mistake was to publicly establish a red line.”

His speech also discussed the European Union, which Aznar stated needs limiting, though he remains a supporter of the project in principle.