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the Syrian capital here's what he had to say
what we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world
it defies any code of morality
let me be clear the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians
the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders
by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity
by any standard it is inexcusable
and despite the excuses and equivocations
that some have manufactured it is undeniable
joining me here to talk about it is Huffington Post Washington bureau chief
Ryan Grimm
Ryan, Kerry said a lot of things and used strong language as you know
today he said that
the US believes that is a that it is undeniable as you heard
what do you make of this strongly worded statement
well, is he saying that it's undeniable that Assad did it or it's undeniable that all of
these things
that he have said, that he had said about chemical weapons attacks are, are true
Uhhh so they're still a little bit of room
uhh you know to maneuver here Undeniable is a
is a weird choice of words because there's something distinct
from that word and truth
you know it could be both untrue and undeniable
in the sense that the political opinion and the political way forced
forcing itself on the Assad regime is so strong
that even if they didn't use it it will be undeniable for them to say that
you know that that they that they didn't use it and you know they
they have put out another another statement saying that anybody who thinks
it wasn't Assad should
quote-unquote check their conscience right their moral conscience
okay... elements of al Qaeda are working with the Syrian opposition
right... and they're the most effective
So is it absurd to suggest
that al Qaeda would kill civilians
I mean who's the state department working for here
well I think that's that's exactly right, you're pinpointing this notion that there's so much that we don't know
even when we want to know you know we want to arm the moderate rebels
but they're not necessarily the most effective but there has been as you know
kind of this criticism of the Obama administration for more than
two and a half years
Uhh ahh kind of dithering responses you know equivocating, not really you having
you know, strategy so to speak
and Blake Hounshell from Politico the deputy editor tweeted this
The role of Barack Obama's backbone will be played this afternoon by John Kerry
We saw Jay Carney give a press conference at the same time
a lot of people were
suggesting that there is a very big difference in terms of the tone
Julia for example on Twitter saying the difference in tone between Kerry and
Carney's press conference is stunning
like they're talking about different countries
When we talk about this setting the stage for military strikes
was it that cut and clear and cut-and-dried for you?
Yes. You can call a backbone GeorgeW Bush and *** Cheney
and Condoleezza Rice have a backbone
when they stood up and said it is undeniable that
you know Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and you know we can either
go in there eradicate them or we can
you know .. all die in a mushroom cloud
you know so OK great... They had a backbone good for them what it?
what it get us?
You know Kerry is a seemingly at odds
with with the white house here which is being a little bit more circumspect
because
okay what then, that's that's the question that they still have to answer
okay you go in
and you blow a few things up, right What what have you actually accomplished
by doing that?
so that's the question i mean people are discussing, obviously people
get ahead of themselves
ahead of themselves rather when you hear these kind of strongly worded statement
people suggesting that there will just be
limited military strikes may be a few bombings but
but isn't that still a declaration of war even if it's undeclared or is it not?
well I mean we've move so far from declaring war
we you know we we bomb countries that at will
You know we might bomb Yemen today right and we're not
declaring war on them We might bomb Pakistan
right so that's that's a bit separate
but you know uhhh...
so I mean that the question like what you said the're movi...
everybody wants to say: okay look are you for or against
killing innocent civilians? you know, if you're
if you're for then you're with these terrorists if you're against it
then we must act okay but then what? what does that mean
after we have acted? what's gonna, what what happens next?
and that's a serious question do you put a you know a couple hundred thousand US
troops on the ground to make sure that all of these
various factions stop fighting? if you don't then what you've
you have accomplished
by blowing up a couple things? right, well you know Kerry
touched on the consequences I it wasn't direct but I actually want to take a
look at what he had to say about those consequences
there is a reason why president Obama has made
clear to the Assad regime
that this international norm cannot be violated without consequences
and there is a reason why no matter what you believe about Syria
all peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common humanity
must stand up to assure that there is accountability
for the use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again
So I don't know what to make about of that I mean in general I agree that if
an international war crime was committed then the international community
ought to respond to it or else you know the
the entire regime of banning chemical biological weapons
is is undermined I would I would agree with that
but they haven't proven that yet right and now what if it turns out
that it was elements of the opposition that did that
in a desperate attempt to beit the United States
into the war at the very end then what? then if it's undeniable that they did it
do we have to then bomb right the opposition?
right, there's ... on behalf a Assad? There's an outraging shift
he's not leaving any room for decision-making well one last question before we move on
Max Fisher from the Washington Post tweeted this a new poll this is a Reuters poll
shows that only 9 percent
of Americans say they support intervention
almost twice as many as they as like congress
right what it what is that you suggest I mean obviously the US can do what it wants
the administration can go and even if its 2 percent
but does that factor in at all? Oh absolutely and its
it's a legacy of the Iraq war you know they were people were lied into war
and they're not happy about it and they also
I think a lot of people don't see a positive outcome
if there was, you know, if there was some way
that American use of violence in Syria could lead
to some stable outcome, democratic or not
Then I think a lot of american people would be okay with that use of force
that's not that's not obvious and it's also not obvious to people
that the american government is gonna tell the truth about what's happening over there
they didn't last time
that's what happens, you lose the respect of your population
right, if not the world and the world That's for sure. All right moving on
a New York Times report on the recent surge of anti-americanism that has swept
through egypt has a curious detail which involves
no one else other than Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert
in a video clip that has been broadcast on Egyptian state television
Gohmert criticized the Obama administration for failing to sever its
financial ties to Egyptian government that was run by the Islamist Brotherhood
now Ryan what's going on here? this is pretty bizarre Yeah Louie Gohmert go for him
he is
is a celebrity in Egypt he has made himself
the face of anti-american
resentment in in Egypt which it's not an easy thing to do
Bush is gone you know he used to be the guy
everywhere in Egypt right USA thumbs-up Bush thumbs-down
right That was a common reaction that Americans would get when they'd go
go over to Egypt. Now I guess it's USA and Louie Gohmert
Even in the west. That's funny there's so many other targets to your point
like the ambassador Patterson
many others and you know, I get it because
this notion I'm not suspending aid when we are suspending aid to other countries
for other reasons like apparently Saint Lucia we just suspended
assistance to Saint Lucia's police force because of unlawful killings
but Egypt and their unlawful killings I guess: off-limits
all the sudden, you can't kick people's doors and shoot them accidentally
I mean, this is
this is what police forces do all across the United States
that's true... well ... May be they should, you know, pull some of the aid from them
from them! that'll never happen I can imagine that Well thanks for joining us
you got it