Bloomberg.com News
Kerry Turns From Anti-War Protester to Syria Salesman
Secretary
of State John Kerry listens during a hearing of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on September 3, 2013 in Washington,
DC. Photographer: Brendan Smialoski/AFP via Getty Images
2:49
Sept.
4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President
Vladimir Putin and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry offer their views
on possible U.S. military action in Syria in response to the regime's
alleged use of chemical weapons against its own citizens. This report
also contains comments from U.S. Republican Representatives Ed Royce of
California and Steve Chabot of Ohio, and Democratic Representative
Gregory Meeks of New York. (Source: Bloomberg)
Enlarge image 
Members
of CodePink Tighe Barry, left, and Medea Benjamin, second left, protest
as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, arrives at a hearing on
"Syria: Weighing the Obama Administration's Response" before the House
Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Sept.
4, 2013. Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
“When I was 27 years
old, I had feelings very similar to that protester. And I would just
say that is exactly why it is so important that we are all here having
this debate, talking about these things before the country, and that the
Congress itself will act representing the American people,” Kerry told
the Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 3.Kerry, who spent hours testifying on Capitol Hill the past two days to persuade reluctant lawmakers to approve a strike to punish the Syrian regime for what the U.S. says was the gassing of 1,400 people, has emerged as the Obama administration’s most passionate advocate of a military response to an atrocity.
More than President Barack Obama himself, Kerry is the public face of the administration’s campaign to convince the world and the American people that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad committed a war crime and that the U.S. must act in collective self-defense.
The role of chief spokesman for military action -- a tough sales job to a war-weary public and Congress -- may seem an odd role for a decorated Vietnam War naval officer who rose to prominence as an anti-war campaigner before entering politics. Those who’ve known him for decades say Kerry is doing now what he did in 1971: speaking his conscience about acts of war.
‘Wrong-Headed Action’
Kerry’s high profile as the administration’s advocate for military action has earned him criticism as well. Retired Army Colonel Larry Wilkerson, who was Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff, said Kerry “has become one of those people who in order to stay loyal to this administration” is making a case for a wrong-headed action without recognizing that “war is brutal; you have no idea how the person against whom you’re using force is going to respond.”
Others interviewed yesterday, including 10 longtime Kerry strategists, observers, political allies or opponents, argued that Kerry’s position on Syria is rooted in his belief in the rules of war and his personal experience on the battlefield.
‘Moral Authority’.......
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John Kerry reveals Arab countries have offered to PAY America to carry out full-scale invasion of Syria
By David Martosko|
'With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assist, the answer is profoundly yes,' Kerry said. 'They have. That offer is on the table.'
Kerry, with a cadre of anti-war activists sitting behind him and holding red-painted hands aloft in protest, declined to name the countries that have proposed opening their purses.
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry, an anti-war protester himself 40 years
ago, is cast in the role of war consigliere to the president. He said
Wednesday that Arab countries had offered to pay America's expenses for a
military operation if it ousts Bashar al-Assad from Syria
The
guided-missile destroyer USS Barry, foreground, is one of four US Navy
destroyers to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea on Sept. 3, all of
which are combat ready against Syria if the order for a strike is given
Syrian
women who live in Lebanon -- another of Syria's neighbors -- light
candles during a vigil against chemical weapons attacks near Damascus,
in front the United Nations headquarters in Beirut
Following through on a use-of-force resolution, she said, 'could potentially cost ... billions.'
But Kerry said other nations that see Assad as a destabilizing force in the region have proposed to cover the costs.
As for 'the details of the offer, and the proposal on the table,' Ros-Lehtinen asked Kerry, 'what are the figures we are talking about?
'We don’t know what action we [will be] engaged in right now,' Kerry replied, 'but they have been quite significant. I mean, very significant.'
'In fact, some of them have said that if the U.S. is prepared to go do the whole thing, the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll carry that cost. That’s how dedicated they are to this.'
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