U.S. former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger criticized President Obama on CNN, saying he shouldn't have given Congress a role in deciding whether to attack Syria after a chemical weapon attack there killed more than 1,400 people on August 21.

'I have been against American military intervention, and have said so publicly,' Kissinger told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. 'This, however, is a use of weapons of mass destruction, which has consequences beyond Syria.'

Kissinger has also warned that there could be dire international consequences for the U.S. if the world sees lawmakers in Washington turning down Obama's request for a military strike order.

'If the president of the United States for the first time in American history, so far as one can tell, is refused authority by the Congress to do what he has declared in the national interest, the impact of that on allies and people we'll have to be in possible confrontation with will be enormous,' Kissinger said.