Kerry Turns From Anti-War Protester to Syria Salesman
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan - Sep 5, 2013
When an anti-war protester interrupted a congressional hearing on Syria this week to yell, “We don’t want another war,” Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the irony that he first appeared before the same Senate panel 42 years ago as an anti-war activist.
“When I was 27 years old, I had feelings very similar to that protester. And I would just say that is exactly why it is so important that we are all here having this debate, talking about these things before the country, and that the Congress itself will act representing the American people,” Kerry told the Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 3.
Kerry, who spent hours testifying on Capitol Hill the past two days to persuade reluctant lawmakers to approve a strike to punish the Syrian regime for what the U.S. says was the gassing of 1,400 people, has emerged as the Obama administration’s most passionate advocate of a military response to an atrocity.
More than President Barack Obama himself, Kerry is the public face of the administration’s campaign to convince the world and the American people that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad committed a war crime and that the U.S. must act in collective self-defense.
The role of chief spokesman for military action -- a tough sales job to a war-weary public and Congress -- may seem an odd role for a decorated Vietnam War naval officer who rose to prominence as an anti-war campaigner before entering politics. Those who’ve known him for decades say Kerry is doing now what he did in 1971: speaking his conscience about acts of war.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-05/kerry-turns-from-anti-war-protester-to-syria-salesman.html
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