Chris Wallace to John Kerry: "Haven't You Handed Syria and Iran at Least a Temporary Victory?”

Townhall.com ^ | September 1, 2013 | Leah Barkoukis

[Kaslin]

Syrian newspapers are saying that Obama’s decision to seek congressional approval is the “start of the historic American retreat,” and on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace noted that officials in Damascus are saying the president “flinched” and had “made a joke of the American administration.” Given these types of reactions, Wallace asked Sec. John Kerry whether he “handed Syria and Iran at least a temporary victory.”

“I don’t believe so at all,” Kerry responded. “And that is in the hands of the Congress of the United States. The president has made his decision. The president wants to stand up and make certain that we uphold the international norm, that we do not grant impunity to a ruthless dictator to gas his own people. Anybody who saw those images, anybody who know focuses on the evidence that I just gave you about signatures of sarin in the hair and blood samples of the first responders -- I mean, first responders died.  People who went to help the people who were hurt, died in this case.”

Kerry, who is making the rounds on all five Sunday shows, is pressing the administration’s case for military action, especially given evidence that the Assad regime used sarin gas. “This case is building and this case will build,” Kerry said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But Obama’s decision to seek congressional authorization is not necessarily the problem here—it’s that he did not call Congress back for a special session at the earliest date possible.

“You can’t leave the region hanging,” Krauthammer said. “It looks absolutely as if the United States has chickened out.”

“Even though I think a limited attack is not the right thing to do, at this point he has to do something, or we will have reached the lowest ebb of American influence in the region since 1970,” he said.

Krauthammer strongly disapproved of Obama’s timetable, which allows for Congress to debate military interaction, presumably when the chambers get back in session on September 9th. The analyst said Syrians being attacked by their own government have no such lack of urgency.

“They hear a president who has no idea what he is doing and speaks about this in a leisurely way,” Krauthammer said. “What the president ought to do—I can’t believe that he actually decided otherwise—was to bring in Congress tomorrow. We have Reagan Airport, National Airport, Dulles, BWI. You can use the Air Force. You bring in the members of Congress, you have a debate for two days and you have a resolution.”

And the optics of  going golfing with Biden just minutes after his major announcement on Syria are terrible, to say the least.

So, what kind of message is this sending to the world? Via The Blaze:

Housing Minister Uri Ariel of Israel’s right-wing Jewish Home party said, “In Tehran, they’re opening the champagne, and switching into a higher gear en route to nuclear weapons.”

“Facing real dangers, no one in the world will stand with us,” Ariel said according to the Times of Israel, voicing a widely held opinion that Obama’s wavering on Syria will only embolden Iran in its march toward nuclear weapons.

“President Obama blinked, and this is bad. It is bad for the US’ interests, it’s bad for its allies’ interests and it sends an encouraging message to cruel, unrestrained regimes that possess or don’t possess weapons of mass destruction,”wrote prominent military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai of the Israeli paper Yedioth Aharonot.

That’s a sentiment the Associated Press appeared to echo, writing: “The stunning reversal also raises questions about the president’s decisiveness and could embolden leaders in Syria, Iran, North Korea and elsewhere, leaving them with the impression of a US president unwilling to back up his words with actions.”

“The international stammering and vacillation over Syria proves, yet again, that Israel can trust in none but itself,” Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said, according to Reuters Jerusalem Correspondent Dan Williams.

Obama said on Saturday that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs indicated to him that “our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive; it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now.” There are many who beg to differ, however. 

[Cricket24]

The only reason Obama wants a vote on the Syrian “crisis” is so he can blame the Republicans no matter how they vote. They had better vote NO! Let the Syrians kill each other!!!

[Kaslin]

It’s all political

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[DaveA37]

“Kerry, who is making the rounds on all five Sunday shows, is pressing the administration’s case for military action, especially given evidence that the Assad regime used sarin gas.”...........

And Kerry can PROVE, without any dispute that the Syrian gubment used the gas on their won people? Why would the Syrian leadership need to use chemical warfare when he was winning the war? Doesn't make a lot of sense.

Then, there was a recent article (which has been completely buried) that the REBELS themselves claimed to have accidentally released the gas. What happened to that claim? Anybody checking into it? I doubt it as finding the REAL TRUTH might disrupt odumbo’s plan to further assist the rebellion. Like Palin said, “Let Allah sort it out”.

[monocle]

We have all heard about paper tigers, but Obama has taken us beyond that and we as a nation will be looked upon as paper pussy cats.

[urbanpovertylawcenter]

And what gas did Clinton use in Waco, Texas?

And against whose people?

[bert]

——— The president has made his decision.———

The Messianic decision was as always, to vote present. The black bastard son of a communist white woman is simply incapable of making a decision.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

When Barky loses Tom Harkin, he is over and done with.

[danamco]

ALL this “nonsense” as Putin calls it is nothing but cover up for Benghazi-Gate where it all started with the failed gun-running to Syria and four Americans murdered!!!

[Liz]

(background music "If I Only Had a Brain")

Kerry was asked about Congress refusing to give its authorization for military action in Syria......Kerry replied that he does not believe that will happen.

===================================================

Kerry forgot to mention he had just completed THE DNC'S
COMPASSION-TRAINING SEMINAR as he pontificated on the use of chemical weapons.

When he did his Compassion Act.....Kerry was even able to force out tears when he asserted w/ eyes narrowed for emphasis: "use of chemical weapons in “a cowardly crime” and a “moral obscenity” that shocked the world’s conscience."

Then he added.....

"I'm getting a brain transplant tomorrow."

And not a moment too soon.

[McGavin999]

The only thing Obama has assured is that some day we will have to make a devastating attack, killing hundreds of thousands just to gain back enough respect to keep the world relatively safe. What a coward and sniveling little man.

[PJ-Comix]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Kaslin.

Wallace asked Sec. John Kerry whether he "handed Syria and Iran at least a temporary victory."

"I don’t believe so at all... and that is in the hands of the Congress of the United States. The president has made his decision. The president wants to stand up and make certain that we uphold the international norm..."

But Obama's decision to seek congressional authorization is not necessarily the problem here -- it's that he did not call Congress back for a special session at the earliest date possible.

As many Republicans as possible need to vote "Present". That will be a bigger humiliation than anything the narcissist Kenyan has ever received in politics, particularly when fellow Demwits vote 'no', but also if they vote 'yes'. Want another war? Repeal Obamacare.

[Yorlik803]

The question that should have been asked is why is the USA supporting the same people who brought down the WTC,hit the Pentagon and almost hit the Whitehouse?
And we are killing AQ in Iraq and Afgahistan, why do you want to help them in Syria.
And we close our embassies in the middle east due to a threat of AQ hitting them. Don’t it seem stupid to aid them?
SO many questions nobody is asking

[Lawgvr1955]

How is the American public supposed to believe Lurch? He represents the Clown’s government which had assured us that the attack on our embassy in Benghazi was the result of a Youtube video? I am so tired of the lying Obamatons.

[Rocky]

We are Lurching to defeat.

[Chewbarkah]

Correct. Kerry’s statement “And that is in the hands of the Congress of the United States,” makes it clear they want Congressional Republicans to embrace this tarbaby in the public mind, even though the Senate, not the House, is empowered to declare war.

Kerry’s “The president has made his decision,” is a howler, given that Obama just said he hasn’t made a decision.

Instead of taking the bait, Congress should demand that the President do his job: present a coherent justification for US military action; explain how US interests are involved; what he seeks to accomplish and how; what he thinks the unintended physical and political consequences might be; explain his justification for unilateral US intervention in Syria under international law; explain where he will get the money this will cost; etc. Tee this up as a referendum on his failed leadership, then, as you advised, vote “No”. Invite Obama to return when he has something.

[Monitor]

The Republicans should vote “Present” and let Obama and the democrats own this100%.

[GOPJ]

Is Chris Wallace being buttered up by the House of Saud?