Kerry Doesn’t Rule Out Boots On The Ground If Syria ‘Implodes’

[WilliamPitt]

Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday appeared to leave the door open to the U.S. deploying ground troops in Syria in the event the country "imploded, for instance."

“In the event Syria imploded, for instance or in the event there was a threat of a chemical weapons cache falling into the hands of somebody else and it was clearly in the interest of our allies — all of us, the British, the French, and others. I don’t want to take off the table an option that might or might not be available to the President of the United States to secure our country," Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, debating whether to authorize President Barack Obama's punitive strike in response to a reported chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime.

Asked by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the ranking Republican on the committee, whether the secretary of state truly believed combat troops could be an option, Kerry walked the comment back by saying he was only "thinking out loud."

The rest: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/kerry-doesnt-rule-out-boots-on-ground-as

[frylock]

1. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.

because it was, you know, still on my clipboard.

[Supersedeas]

21. yes, by now, we know

[Autumn]

2. I'm just gonna rec this and keep my mouth shut.

[chimpymustgo]

3. It's gonna be a cakewalk, right?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. And it's going to cost hardly anything.

[chimpymustgo]

14. This is no time to talk about MONEY! Not when our "interests" are at stake!

[Autumn]

17. And we will be greeted with flowers. What the hell, bring out one TP bring them all out.

It's not like they have an expiration date.

[pokerfan]

25. We're going to fight them over there...

so we don't have to fight them over here....

[warrant46]

26. A Rose Petal Parade

[leftstreet]

4. 'secure our country' FROM WHAT?!

FFS

Why doesn't he have the guts to say whose interests are at play here

It's not Americans

[Catherina]

5. Which it will. As General Dempsey has repeatedly warned. Rec'd n/t

[Peacetrain]

6. I am the one of the Presidents biggest supporters in DU

NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND.

If we say they are off the table as an option.. somehow, someway, they are apt to be pulled in.

Thinking out loud, worries me.

I still support this President a 100 times over the current crazed do nothing congress. I did not hear Kerrys testimony so I am taking this at face value and hope I do not get a bunch of egg on my face again

I am no fan of Assad.. I am no fan of the opposition. There is no good in any of our choices. And I am not a fan of turning our backs on atrocities either.

Why can we not get extracted from that part of the world.. why do we keep getting pulled back in..

BUT where is the rest of the world on this.

My head spins..

[WilliamPitt]

8. "Why can we not get extracted from that part of the world.. why do we keep getting pulled back in"

[leftstreet]

11. Follow the money

[GeorgeGist]

13. Because we're God's gift to the world and ...

Greedy sons of bitches.

[KoKo]

7. We must not speak ill of ........

former Presidential Candidates.

[Autumn]

18. Or future Presidential Candidates.

[KoKo]

19. indeed..we must not speak ill of them...no matter the track record...n/t

[leveymg]

9. What is that sound in Damascus we've been hearing for a year? Sounds like Vietnam.

Of course this one, also, is going to go radically from bad to worse after we've bombed the place.

All this sounds like 1963 and talk about limited US American air support for ARVN with a few US advisors, but then 1964 came with air strikes against North Vietnam,and 1965,and '66, '67, and '68 . . . and Four More Years of Nixon and then two more before the last Huey lifted off from the roof of the US Embassy, and we were finally gone.

War have a way of escalating and dragging on for many years, if you let them, and fail to learn from them.

[NightWatcher]

12. Anybody else get the feeling that... oh yes, it's deja bullshit

They're reading from the same 11 year old script, only changing the names of the poor bastards we're about to kill.

But this time it's Obama, so we're cool with it, right?

[KoKo]

20. I love it! You nailed it: deja bullshit!

What's CRUDE is that they didn't think that "WE" would call them on their deja bullshit!

What? Did they think we out here didn't have a HISTORY back to STOLEN ELECTION 2000! and that we didn't RECORD that INFO...for Future Reference?

Like we are DUMB and CLUELESS?

Disgusting!

[Peregrine Took]

15. Only if he and the other pro "attack" people's boots go first!

[Marrah_G]

16. I think I am going to throw up

As the mother of a MA Nat guard member my stomach is doing flip flops again.

[KoKo]

23. Agree...who would have thought it would come to this...and

anyone who has kids out there...it's gotta be devastating. ...and realize that's not enough. We have to be hopeful that the kids out there who serve will make the difference in the years going forward. What else can we hope for but that they will. Because they are the future and their voice and experience will MATTER!

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. Well there ya go.......boots on the ground it is.

[DirkGently]

24. Given a "punishment bombing" won't accomplish anything ...

... of course it will expand. They can blow up all the "runways" they want; it won't secure the weapons. It won't ensure Assad loses. It won't stop atrocities. It won't stop killings. It won't save children.

Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.

[woo me with science]

27. Why would anything bad happen?

If someone lobbed cruise missiles into our country, it would just calm everyone down, wouldn't it?

[noamnety]

28. Don't we already have "boots on the ground"?

This is from a year ago: http://nsnbc.me/2012/06/04/nato-special-forces-in-syria-now-official/

[bigtree]

29. we've got 'boots' here as well

. . . made for walkin'; made for marching.