Kerry: the al-Qaeda threat is real, it is getting out of hand

Bloomberg reports that the veil has slipped on the Obama Administration’s lackadaisical approach to the Middle East, in general, and Syria in particular. Secretary of State John Kerry briefed some Senators, apparently getting a feel for how they would react to “greater engagement” in Syria. Unfortunately for Kerry the crowd included hawks Graham and McCain who leaked some of Kerry’s remarks to the media;

According to Graham, Kerry gave the clear impression that Syria is slipping out of control. He said Kerry told the delegation that, “the al-Qaeda threat is real, it is getting out of hand.” The secretary, he said, raised the threat of al-Qaeda unprompted. “He acknowledged that the chemical weapons [delivery] is being slow-rolled; the Russians continue to supply arms [and that] we are at a point now where we are going to have to change our strategy. He openly talked about supporting arming the rebels. He openly talked about forming a coalition against al-Qaeda because it’s a direct threat.”

“I would not characterize what he said as a plea for a new policy, but that, in light of recent, dramatic developments, the administration is exploring possible new directions,” said one Democratic House member who was in the meeting. “He wasn’t arguing so much that the administration needs a new policy, but that the administration is considering a range of options based on recent developments.”

Kerry’s solution is that we should begin arming “moderate” influences in Syria, but, ya know, I don’t see any “moderate” people in a civil war, particularly that civil war. I’d prefer that they are all armed with AK-47s, so we know which ones to shoot when this all blows up in our faces in a few years.

I’ve been on this planet long enough to know that whatever the US does is going to make us look bad in the end – so lets do thing that doesn’t provide a future enemy with the arms to use against our troops. If you want to drone a couple of al Qaeda training camps, I can get on board with that. We’ll look bad, but there will be fewer people on the planet screaming at us. And they’ll only have the same or fewer number of weapons that they had before we droned them.

But the Obama Administration has been painting this rosy picture of al Qaeda being rolled back around the world, and they expected us to believe that, while they didn’t even believe it themselves. So much for that “most transparent administration ever” thing.

Category: John Kerry, Terror War