Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Strongest Argument Against U. S. Action in Syria – The Administration and Its Members Are Just Too Inept to Do It Right

And Why is Secretary of State John Kerry Leading the Charge?

[Editor's update:  Apparently remarks Mr. Kerry made off the cuff about a solution if Syria allows control of its chemical weapons to pass to an international team has stirred some interest.  Far from being supportive of Mr. Kerry's role, that is further evidence that even when he has something constructive he doesn't even know it.  Mr. Kerry doesn't know what he is doing, and he doesn't know that he doesn't know what he is doing.]

As the argument over whether or not the United States should strike Syria because of its use of chemical weapons rages, it becomes more and more evident that this administration just has no idea of what it is doing.  And about the strongest evidence of that fact is the involvement of Secretary of State John Kerry.  Here is his latest incompetence.

US Secretary of State John Kerry touches his head with his hand during a joint press conference at the Foreign Office in London, Sept. 9. | AP Photo
The face of America's campaign for authority to strike Syria?


As President Barack Obama kicks off an all-out push for a strike on Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry came under fire on Monday for saying any attack would be “unbelievably small” and suggesting the Syrian ruler still had a week to give up his chemical weapons to avoid a U.S. assault - a remark Kerry’s spokeswoman later attempted to clarify.

The off-key comments came in a joint press conference in London with Britain’s foreign secretary, where Kerry said the strike would be able to harm Assad without putting American troops on the ground and with a “very limited, very targeted, short-term effort.”

Gosh, could he have said anything dumber? 

But Kerry’s comments Monday caused even some of the president’s strongest backers for military intervention to call the White House’s outreach a disaster.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) strongly favors a strike on Syria, but criticized Kerry’s comments.

“I don’t understand what he means by that,” Rogers said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday. “This is part of the problem. That’s a very confusing message — certainly a confusing message to me that he would offer that as somebody who believes this is in our national security interest.”

Rogers said the president has done an “awful job” of explaining foreign policy to the American people and is trying to make up for lost time.


And why is Mr. Kerry even leading the charge here?  He is Secretary of State, not Secretary of Defense.  And his appointment has been one of the more inexplicable actions of Mr. Obama.  He has no qualifications for the job, and compared to his predecessor he looks awful.  And yes, that awfulness does reflect  upon his boss.

1 comment:

  1. With no coherent plan coming from the White House, Russia will take any remaining wind out of Obama's sails with its proposal that Syria allow monitoring of its chemical weapons. Russia mooting Obama's intervention strategy would ratchet this debacle to an even higher level.

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