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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Two trips down the Syrian rabbit hole

Here are two examples of how clueless our administration and our new SCOTUS, John Kerry are.  Kerry wants the Syrian rebels to have a sit-down so he can tell them that help is on the way, while foreign affairs member Rep. Eliot Engel of New York is pushing hard for weapons to be sent directly to the rebels.  A double edged setup for failure...again.  Concern for weapons getting to jihadists should be a top thought and a revisiting of what we did in Afghanistan against the Soviets that resulted in our weapons being used against us must be considered, but it won't.  We will end up arming those who will use them against us when given the chance.  A bad policy with bad results is what we will get if we keep to this path.  But don't worry, it will work this time, trust us they say.

Uh huh.

From Yahoo News Feb 26 by Matthew Lee

Kerry urges Syrian opposition to attend Rome talks

BERLIN (AP) — Skeptical Syrian opposition leaders agreed Monday to attend an international conference in Rome after first threatening to boycott the session that was to be the centerpiece of Secretary of State John Kerry's his first overseas mission in his new job.

Opposition leaders had protested what they see as inaction by other nations in the face of violence from Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Kerry not only made a public plea at a joint news conference Monday with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, he also called Moaz Khatib, leader of the Syrian Opposition Council, "to encourage him to come to Rome," a senior U.S. official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, described the conversation as "good" but declined to offer more detail.

Spokesman Walid al-Bunni said the council had decided to send a delegation to Rome after all.

Al-Bunni told Al-Arabiya TV the decision was made based on guarantees al-Khatib heard from western diplomats that the conference would be different and that the opposition would receive real commitments this time. "We will go and we will see if the promises are different this time," he said.

After speaking with Khatib, Kerry flew to Berlin from London, the first stop of his first trip as secretary of state — a hectic nine-country dash through Europe and the Middle East.

Kerry had also dispatched his top Syrian envoy to Cairo in hopes of convincing opposition leaders that their participation is critical to addressing questions from potential donors and securing additional aid from the United States and Europe.

"We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind, wondering where the support is, if it is coming," Kerry told reporters in London after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron and Hague. "We are not going to let the Syrian opposition not have its ability to have its voice properly heard in this process."

For his part, Hague said the violence in Syria, especially recent scud missile attacks on the city of Aleppo, was unacceptable and that the west's current position could not be sustained while an "appalling injustice" is being done to Syrian citizens.

"In the face of such murder and threat of instability, our policy cannot stay static as the weeks go by," Hague told reporters, standing beside Kerry. "We must significantly increase support for the Syrian opposition. We are preparing to do just that."

Kerry agreed.


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