John Kerry was for bombing Syria before he was against it. It was just about a year ago that the Secretary of State said that history would judge us all “extraordinarily harshly” if something (i.e., a military strike) wasn’t done about the Assad regime gassing its own citizens to death.
“Now, we know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war. Believe me, I am, too. But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency,” — (John Kerry, Aug. 20, 2013).
Today? Well, Chlorine is bad but it’s not really that bad. And, well, we don’t really want to be “pinned down” with actually having to do anything with the 150,000 dead bodies (and counting) in Syria. So maybe someone else will figure it out. Someday.
Here’s what the guy who voted for war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan before voting against it said in London May 15:
“With respect to the [chemical weapons] and what the consequences are, it has been made clear by President Obama and others that use would result in consequences. We’re not going to pin ourselves down to a precise time, date, manner of action, but there will be consequences if it were to be proven, including, I might say, things that are way beyond our control and have nothing to do with us. But the International Criminal Court and others are free to hold him accountable. And as you know, we have a resolution that will be in front of the United Nations with respect to culpability for crimes against humanity, atrocities in the course of this conflict. So one way or the other, there will be accountability,” (John Kerry, May 15, 2014).
As radio host Chris Plante said: Chlorine takes the “red” out of red lines!
Why is it okay to murder your own citizens with bullets, bombs and Chlorine gas, but it’s not okay to do so with VX nerve agent? Why did the U.S. bomb the hell out of Libya for “humanitarian” purposes, but then does nothing in Syria?
Politicians like John Kerry make the world a more dangerous place because they perpetually engage in doublespeak. They take every side on an issue, act on what is politically expedient and then (if they have the right letter next to their name) count on the media to throw all the contradictory statements down the Memory Hole.
What makes matters worse is that dictators like Bashar al Assad and former KGB agents like Vladimir Putin know that men like John Kerry are generally unprincipled buffoons, so they act in ways they otherwise wouldn’t; they know they can get away with it (e.g., the annexation of Crimea).
When John Kerry says things like Bashar al Assad gassing his own people was the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” the world’s worst actors just laugh because they know that all they have to do is feign interest in a “deal” of some kind to get men like John Kerry to blubber themselves into a new position.
It isn’t often that dictators around the world get to do whatever the heck they want and know that they can do so, for all intents and purposes, with impunity. Before President Obama leaves office, expect a few more surprises from the usual cast of international thugs and lowlifes because they will want to push the envelope as far as possible before the 2016 presidential election.
Place yourself in the shoes of Nicholas Maduro, Bashar al Assad, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping or Kim Jong-un. What would you do? Answer that question and then ask yourself another: How has “leading from behind” worked for the United States since 2008?
Douglas Ernst Blog 