Who is this imposter who has the gall to call himself “John Kerry?” The real John Kerry is an intelligent liberal, indeed something of a hero for having the courage to not only vigorously oppose the Vietnam War—the last U.S. war fought in the name of “credibility”– but to openly charge that the U.S. was committing “war crimes” there. Surely this can’t be the same fellow who is not only leading the charge for the U.S. to plunge into yet another unnecessary and unwise war, but whose rhetoric is increasingly bizarre.
Fear that if we don’t go to war in Syria, we will lose our “credibility?“ Credibility to do what: stupidly intervene in yet another civil war in a country of trivial importance, in which we not only do not have “vital interests” at stake, but in which, if we had, we wouldn’t know which side to support, and in which we have no idea whether our intervention will save innocent lives or put them still further into danger?
If that wasn’t bad enough, now “John Kerry” accuses opponents of an attack on Syria as advocating “armchair isolationism.” What? First of all, to oppose the war in Syria does not make one “isolationist,” or even “anti-war,” as opposed to opposing this specific war. The opposite of “isolationism” usually is defined as “internationalism.” By such reasoning, then, this must mean that “internationalists” favor going to war with everyone.
Moreover, in fact the United States would greatly benefit by a healthy dose of isolationism to at least partly balance what ought to be called “mindless interventionism.” After all, the problem with U.S. foreign policy since the end of WWII, and even more so since the end of the Cold War, has not exactly been a refusal to get into foreign wars.
Finally, the very concept of an “armchair isolationist” is incoherent. Apparently Kerry has confused the term with that of the common one, “armchair warrior.” That is a coherent and, indeed, powerful concept—it refers, of course, to someone who wants other people to go to war while he sits safely at home. Now try making sense of “armchair isolationism.”
This post first appeared on Jerome Slater’s site.
Reuters asserts Putins remark that Kerry is a liar:
Kerry portrait of Syria rebels at odds with intelligence reports
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/05/us-syria-crisis-usa-rebels-idUSBRE98405L20130905
Kerry is trying to twist intel & facts to make them fit his war policy just as Bush & Blair agreed to do it in Downing Street Memo preceding the war on Iraq.
John Kerry’s transformation has eerie resemblance to Power’s political prostitution.
Only the redeeming trait for Power was her view of it as a means towards political survival whereas Kerry appears to be motivated by nothing else than vanity.
If he had cared about chemical weapons he’d criticized Israel in 2009 when it used heinous tactics, including white phosphorus, against innocent civilians or when Saddam used it against Iran in the 80s, but back then Saddam was an American ally like Israel is now.
I think Kerry’s guiding light (beyond his ego) is the Holocaust, and the twin concepts that America is the chosen nation in modern times, the light to the world, and so are the Jewish people.
He’s very selective when he uses US history to tell us the former, and he, of course, knows enough to make securing Israel not appear to be the driver of the Obama-McCain resolution being cobbled together now in Congress.
Why is it that congress can look at the classified evidence allegedly showing Assad did the dirty deed, but the American public has to take our regime’s word for it that’s credible and sufficiently definitive? Why can’t the source(s) be revealed? Fool me once, fool me twice…
I see some GOP guys are now jumping on Obama’s resolution, as amended by McCain, to draw back the sequester budget cuts on the military. They want to add that to the strike resolution.
Well said, Mr. Slater. Obama’s sudden and bizarre insistance that we make war on Syria is indeed about credibility and most everyone is scrambling to figure out why he thinks this is an imperative American priority.
Meanwhile…Americans are still in the dark about Obamacare, which has been so poorly explained that nobody really knows what it means. It goes into effect next month with the idea that everyone needs to purchase health care coverge by 1/1/14 or be subject to IRS penalties. For whatever it’s worth, Obamacare is Obama’s signature legislation with serious and looming implications for tens of millions of Americans. His lagacy is decidedly connected to its success so you’d think that he would be doing his best to explain/promote it. But no, he’s talking about Syria. WTF!
Americans are not only “war weary”, they’re also sick and tired of reps who are more concerned with fixing the problems of other countries by force than they are with fixing our own. So, yes, we “armchair isolationists” are staring gape mouthed at an incompotence that beggars belief.