Kerry Cites Broad Backing for Syria Strike

[cali]

The number of countries ready to take military action in Syria has reached "double digits," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday after European Union foreign ministers agreed there was strong evidence the regime of Bashar al-Assad was behind the alleged use of chemical weapons against rebels.

Mr. Kerry was speaking at a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that sought to address deep skepticism among lawmakers and the public in both countries. Washington and Paris are pushing to assemble a broad international coalition of countries that support possible strikes on the Assad regime in order to persuade Congress to vote in favor of authorizing military action.

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However, the ministers stopped short of calling for military action and expressed hope that United Nations inspectors sent to investigate last month's attack would be allowed to present their report before any action was taken.

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On Saturday Mr. Kerry repeatedly drew parallels between the world's struggle to respond to the Assad regime and European appeasement of Nazi Germany during the Munich conference that took place at the outset of World War II.

"This is our Munich moment. This is our chance to join together and pursue accountability over appeasement," Mr. Kerry said. At several points in the news conference, he spoke in French to drive home his arguments with the French public, which mainly opposes military intervention in Syria.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323623304579060692417802108.html

Kerry's catapulting of the crudest propaganda and his twisting of the truth regarding support for strikes, is flat out disgraceful and disgusting.

[arcane1]

1. Great! That means they don't need our help. 10 other countries should be enough, right?

How big does a military have to be for a few "limited strikes"? I would imagine not very big. And with 10 of them, that's plenty!

Whew! A toast to Mr Kerry, for ensuring that the U.S. doesn't need to get involved in Syria. I was worried there for a few days!!

[roguevalley]

7. why is a coalition needed if we aren't going to land. Just airstrikes

don't need a coalition. You watch. We'll land. I want Kerry in the front lines going there.

[Peregrine Took]

12. Let the Poles and Lithuanians proceed! n/t

[arcane1]

14. Ah, yes! I forgot that Syria was invading other countries, and not involved in a civil war.

Perfect analogy! That ranks right up there with "Munich Moment"

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. 10! Double digits...wow..

Damn...this is SO deja vu.....do they really believe that we have forgotten 10 years ago???

Or is it that because the Sec. of State is a different person, the story does not have to be different?

[Scootaloo]

3. Well, King Abdullah al-Saud is a husky fellow who does indeed have a broad back...

[Katashi_itto]

4. Backing from such luminaries as the NRA, Songbird McCain, Israel, Armchair Warriors everywhere....

[roguevalley]

5. ah, the coalition of the willing strikes again. Thank you, Samoa,

Cucamonga, Timbuktu, Luxembourg, Toon Town, the Christmas Islands, Outer not Inner Mongolia, the upper and inner jungles of Madagasgar including the Penguins, the western slope not eastern of Mt. Everest, Tierra del Fuego, The NRA, the northern Amazon and North Korea. We owe ya one.

[fadedrose]

13. It'll cost a lot

to build skyscrapers, roads, bridges, deluxe hotels, provide everybody with a car/house/boat, but their help means so much we can hardly repay....

Never mind that they don't want this stuff, they're going to get it....

[GeorgeGist]

6. So about 5% ...

whoop me a phucking doo.

[David__77]

8. This is THE absolute limit.

Am I dreaming? This is very odd, a caricature, and it is so unhinged, wildly detached from reality, that it's almost unbelievable. I've kept thinking somehow this genie could be put back in the bottle, but it is too late for that. The political debris from this is going to be something for the history books.

[cali]

9. He's lying and it's disgusting

Here's the truth not his bullshit version of it:

US runs into resistance over strike on Syria

The U.S. tried to rally support on Saturday for a military strike against Syria, running into resistance from the American public and skeptics in Congress and from European allies bent on awaiting a U.N. report about a chemical attack they acknowledge strongly points to the Assad government.

President Barack Obama prepared for a national address Tuesday night as a growing number of lawmakers, including fellow Democrats, opposed the use of force. The American public didn't yet appear persuaded by Obama's argument that action is needed to deter the future use of chemical weapons. Meanwhile, a U.S. official released a DVD compilation of videos showing victims of the Aug. 21 attack near Damascus.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with more than two dozen European foreign ministers on Saturday, insisted that international backing to take strong action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime was growing, not receding.

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http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/US-runs-into-resistance-over-strike-on-Syria-4794641.php

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. What has happened to him?

My former senator has lost it..............

[Peregrine Took]

11. Difference between "strike" and "attack?" How can a strike go on for days? n/t

[dflprincess]

15. Maybe Robert Reich and Kerry just needs to be the center of attention

https://www.facebook.com/#!/RBReich

[div class = "excerpt"]
The driving force behind the folly of bombing Syria is Secretary of State John Kerry. I’m told Chuck Hegel has strong reservations, as do the Pentagon’s top generals. But Kerry has no reservations at all, and has convinced the President to stake much of his second-term presidency on it. Why? It’s possible, of course, that Kerry honestly believes that a punitive military strike against Assad is necessary, and that the benefits of such a strike would outweigh the potential costs. But I suspect something else is going on. Kerry is an intelligent man, but he has a fatal flaw. He craves the limelight. He wants to be in the center of the action and attention. Over the years I heard again and again from his Senate colleagues that Kerry grandstanded and wanted all the credit, said things that would get him on the evening news, pushed too fast and too far in order to make his mark. Recently he seemed to be making progress getting the Israelis and Palestinians back to the table, but perhaps he sensed that the incipient talks would drag on forever, and needed a new cause.

Forty years ago John Kerry called for an end to the Vietnam War but in his public pronouncements this past week he has sounded eerily like Robert McNamara in that tragic time – urging that America show “resolve,” that our “credibility” is at stake, that our “enemies are watching,” that we mustn’t “back down.” These were not then, and they are not now, reasoned arguments; they are exhortations. Kerry is on the warpath. The President is ultimately responsible, of course, but I fear he is listening mainly to the loudest voice in the room. And that loud voice is channeling loud voices from America's past -- voices that have led us seriously awry.