Secretary of State John Kerry Pinocchio gave a speech this morning at the United States Institute of Peace and let’s just say some of his rhetoric on the Obama administration’s actions on Syria was a little off:
Kerry is touting the success of U.S. diplomatic leadership on Syria right now. Surreal. #PassingTheBaton
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) January 10, 2017
He went on to defend President Obama’s now infamous red-line on Assad’s use of chemical weapons:
Secretary @JohnKerry on Syria: "President Obama never retreated from his red line. Never!" #passingthebaton
— Steve Smout (@SteveSmout) January 10, 2017
“President Obama never retreated from his red line,” in #Syria, says @JohnKerry @USIP. pic.twitter.com/f7Iekaiymj
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 10, 2017
Kerry went on to blame Congress and the Brits for President Obama not taking action after Assad used chemical weapons to kill his people:
@JohnKerry: let's make it clear – Obama never moved away from the red line. He simply went to Congress first. #USIP #PassingTheBaton
— Ian Larsen (@Ian_Larsen) January 10, 2017
.@JohnKerry defiantly says @POTUS Obama never ran away from red line in Syria. Brits voted against. Prompted concern about US Congress pic.twitter.com/f1bxaBTQrZ
— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) January 10, 2017
And according to Kerry, not bombing Assad was to keep the chemical weapons Assad was using out of the hands of ISIS:
At #passingthebaton @JohnKerry says if we had bombed #Syria weapons all over country including chems would have ended up in #isis hands pic.twitter.com/pEFJF1Y7v0
— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) January 10, 2017
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As for the rest of the world, Kerry doesn’t think “writing checks” is a solution…
"Writing checks is not a solution…we have got to end the war in Syria." –@JohnKerry #PassingTheBaton
— Allyson Neville (@AllysonKNeville) January 10, 2017
…but he’s in favor of a “Marshall Plan” which was literally the U.S. writing checks to help rebuild Europe after WWII:
Sec. John Kerry calls for a "new Marshall plan" for the MENA region and other conflict zones. #PassingTheBaton
— YPFP (@ypfp) January 10, 2017
Secretary Kerry @USIP #PassingTheBaton says refugee problem needs a macro policy we all need to embrace. Urgently need new Marshall Plan.
— Colette Rausch (@coletterausch) January 10, 2017
And he’s in favor of an increase on foreign spending:
.@JohnKerry at @USIP says US spends only 1% on foreign policy; "we need to plus that up"-that takes care of us/home pic.twitter.com/3N8Rk1kKkM
— Indira Lakshmanan (@Indira_L) January 10, 2017
Kerry also took a few shots at President-elect Donald Trump and Secretary of State designee Rex Tillerson:
.@JohnKerry on 'America First' and foreign investment: "If it means turning away from these other things, we have a problem." #DonaldTrump
— Michael Wilner (@mawilner) January 10, 2017
If policy is limited to 140 characters and all mechanisms of accountability bypassed we have a problem, says KERRY. #PassingTheBaton @usip
— Ginny Bouvier (@vmbouvier) January 10, 2017
.@JohnKerry: auth populism, absence of substance, exploitation of fear + simplistic, sloganeering politics. @USIP #PassingtheBaton (2/n)
— Brian Rose (@bwrose83) January 10, 2017
.@JohnKerry: if policy going to be made on Twitter, and accountability going to be bypassed, we have a problem. @USIP #PassingtheBaton (3/n)
— Brian Rose (@bwrose83) January 10, 2017
.@JohnKerry says he has not met Tillerson, says transition "going pretty smoothly because here hasn't been a lot of it." #PassingTheBaton pic.twitter.com/qDBdJJBUch
— SiriusXMPolitics (@SXMPolitics) January 10, 2017
Good riddance.
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