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Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 2:20p.m. ET: President Barack Obama’s choice to be secretary of state, Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass, testified Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one day after the same committee conducted a fractious hearing with current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over last September's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Unlike Wednesday’s sometimes-contentious hearings, Republicans welcomed Kerry, who is currently the chairman of the same committee, warmly at the outset.
Sen. John McCain R-Ariz. joined Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren D-Mass. in introducing the nominee, with McCain praising him for “exemplary statesmanship” in his work on an accord to allow opening of normal diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995.
But while the hearing remained cordial, Kerry came under bipartisan pressure on the question of the civil war in Syria in which more than 60,000 have been killed.
Kerry has met several times over the years with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
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McCain, part of a bipartisan group of senators which just got back from a trip to the Mideast and visited camps where Syrian refugees are living, told Kerry they feel “an anger and frustration” and believe that the United States is indifferent to their suffering.
One Syrian teacher told McCain and the other senators, “This next generation of children will take revenge on those that that did not help them.” McCain added, “We are sowing the wind in Syria and we are going to reap the whirlwind.”
He said “We can do a lot more, without putting boots on the ground” – such as a no-fly zone – and he complained that “all I get, frankly, from the (Obama) administration is the fall of Assad is, quote, ‘inevitable.’ I agree, but what about what happens in the meantime?”
Another member of the delegation that toured the Middle East, Sen. Chris Coons, D- Del., complained to Kerry that U.S. humanitarian aid intended for Syrian refugees “has not reached the people on the ground.”
In response to both Coons and McCain, Kerry said “if you have a complete implosion of the state” in Syria after Assad’s fall, it would greatly increase the risk that Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal would fall into the wrong hands.
Kerry also said that “we need to change Bashar Assad’s calculation. Right now President Assad doesn’t think he’s losing -- and the opposition thinks it is winning.” Kerry said the goal of U.S. policy is a peaceful transition to a new government. He said he hoped to confer with the Russian government, a major supporter of Assad, and with others and “increase the readiness of President Assad to see that the die is cast, the handwriting is on the wall….”
Coons told Kerry, “We frankly face a very narrow window to make a difference on the ground in support of the opposition.”
“I get it,” Kerry answered, saying he did not want to “wind up with them (members of the anti-Saddam Syrian opposition) blaming you” for not doing more to remove Assad from power. But Kerry voiced worry about who would control the country if Assad were forced out of power.
Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of State, speaks with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., before he testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 24, 2013.
The committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, asked Kerry about Obama’s nominee to be defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel and his support for Global Zero, a group which calls for the total abolition of nuclear weapons.
Kerry said Hagel would be “a strong secretary of defense secretary” and that Hagel would not weaken the U.S. nuclear arsenal which serves as a deterrent to an attack on the United States.
A world without any nuclear weapons, Kerry said, was a goal “worth aspiring to,” but “we’re not talking about today’s world” and it might take “many centuries” to achieve abolition of nuclear weapons.
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Kerry also addressed Iran's nuclear program.
“The president has made it definitive--we will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” he said in his opening statement to the committee. “I repeat here today: our policy is not containment. It is prevention and the clock is ticking on our efforts to secure responsible compliance.”
He added, “No one should mistake our resolve to reduce the nuclear threat.”
John Kerry faces tough questions about Israel and Pakistan at his confirmation hearing from Rand Paul.
He said Obama “knows that American foreign policy is not defined by drones and deployments alone. We cannot allow the extraordinary good we do to save and change lives to be eclipsed entirely by the role we have had to play since September 11th, a role that was thrust upon us.”
Referring to the impasse over reducing budget deficits and the growing national debt, Kerry said to the committee members that “the first priority of business which will affect my credibility as a diplomat – and our credibility as nation – as we work to help other countries create order, is whether America at last puts its own fiscal house in order.”
In his opening statement, Kerry showed one brief moment of emotion. His voice shook when he referred to his father, who was a Foreign Service officer. Kerry said he was proud that “the Senate is in my blood – but equally proud that so too is the Foreign Service. My father’s work under presidents both Democrat and Republican took me and my siblings around the world for a personal journey that brought home the sacrifices” that American diplomats abroad make or their country.
During an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama's nominee for secretary of state Sen. John Kerry faced tough questions. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
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"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002.
Publius...
Do you have the rest of the statements from Congressional members on this event or are you just singling out Senator Kerry to make some kind of point.
Chip-Isn't Kerry the topic?
Greg of course it is, but when you single out an individual in an effort to disparage a decision when nearly the entire Congress did the same thing you need to be called on it. It's unfair and intellectually dishonest to intimate something along that line.
Chip,
You are correct, congress voted for the war "before they were against it". Kerry was among the key warmongers doing the news talk show circuit. Google John Kerry WMD for tons of info from a wide variety of sources.
Now Kerry has been nominated for the 3rd highest post in the Obama administration, he SHOULD be held accountable for his Senate votes, his words, and his actions.
And since he is a 1%er, I wonder how much of his wife's money he has invested in defense industries. If he does have money in our own WMD industry, then his appointment is clearly a conflict of interest.
Some one ask Kerry how he was discharged from the Navy and when he had his records corrected.
Where are the "Swift Boaters" now?
graybeard...
Hopefully with Davey Jones in his locker.
Drooling over the open senate seat in MA
Swift boaters were right to call out this fake. His injuries were never sustained in the heat of battle. There were firing off his own M40 in close proximity.
And his medals? Firing wildly into the jungle at nothing???
The Navy Cross,no less! The highest award you can get in the navy save for the the MoH!
Publuis, pathetic, really...
John Kerry is that, pathetic. He is fake and a traitor to all vets.
Publius, not to me.
That makes you wrong (again).
In your mind, which is completely brain-washed by the by.
Your as pathetic as Kerry. Why don't you think for yourself
Publius, luckily his phony Purple Hearts that he never should have gotten and which were rejected by his immediate superior officer, who he went around, did do him in in 2004.
We swift-boated him good!
MMMMM so interesting that Obama selected someone form the 1% crowd. Kerry is worth about 180 million. Guess its ok as long as its a democrat.
It doesn't count because his wife gave him everything he has.Unless,he stole the money while in office!
he has never had a job other than community organizer and congressman or senator.Those boys get pretty good pay.Even Harry,the Brain,Reid managed to accumulate 20 million ,while in office over trhe past century.Did anyone know,the Brain was around the last year they minted a Morgan silver dollar and he was just 2 years from being elected to the senate?
Dave, you may be the only one in here that knows what the heck that post is suppose to mean.
Which name do you think he will go by,his maiden name of Kerry or his married name of Heinz.Mr. Heinz;Secretary Heinz! Nice ring to it!He will go down in history as being the first and only dimocrap senator to go out of office alive and above room temperature!Dims never retire,they just sit around ,like Harry,the Brain,Reid, and wait until they are the longest living member of the Senate and become senate leader.No qualifications other than a pulse.The Brain is going to be remembered for something,i'm just not sure what!
mas098... The petty behavior never ceases to amaze. It's like kindegarten in here.
john kerry???REALLY???
wow just cheat on your dying wife and you are qualified to be on obamas team...
this just keep getting better and better.....whos next...chavez
now just dance on the flag and piss on the constiution, and you will be able to have obamas job...
sad sad sad...
No...I think Chavez is dying.....
well then Chavez will be a qualified Democrat voter...
JACK YOUR ARE A MORON!!!!!!!!!!
Simple question to Kerry. Will you lie to cover Obama or will you tell the truth. Clinton clearly lied her arse off!
rober, she clearly lied her arse off?
According to who, you? You'll excuse us if we don't place a lot of weight on that one.
Why are you losers called liberals, wouldn't sheep be a better description. Liberals the cancer thats killing America.
Lets remember, Scott Brown lost to Elizabeth Warren last November. She is without a doubt, one of the frumpiest bags to ever enter politics. If he couldn't beat Liz, (and he was a sitting Senator) he won't have a chance of beating Democratic Congressman Ed Markey, in Massachusetts for Kerry's Senate seat. Brown is weighing his options, and I'd be suprised if he even tries. I don't think he wants to get spanked twice. Only Romney seems to like voter rejection. Its not that Scott Brown is a bad choice, its just that the voters in Ma. are DONE with Republiclowns. And absolutely won't vote one into Kerrys (or Ted Kennedys seat) Brown only got elected in the first place, because his first opponent, in a special election to replace the deceased Ted Kennedy, was against Martha Coakley. Voters here don't have much use for her. Brown's best bet, is to wait for Deval Patrick to finish his last term, and take a shot at the Governors seat. Ma. voters have put plenty of Republiclowns in that seat over the years. Why? who knows.
Massachusetts has a habit of picking drunks and womanizers.
He could win, definitely.
The only reason Fauxcahontas was able to stumble out of her Occcupy Wall Street tepee and win is because Massachusetts voters were really worried about the presidential election, and turned out heavily to vote for Obama, even though it's a pretty safe state. She was the next person down the ballot right after the pres, also having a (D) next to her name.
In a normal mid-term election, he'll have a good shot. The people in Taxachusetts like him, he's one of those guys who does well in opposition states that go heavily for the other party. Like Fats Waller does in New Jersey.
You have a point there, Chesty. Warren did ride on Obamas coat tails last November. But I have been a lifelong Mass resident, for 56 years, and know for a fact, that Brown didn't win as much as Martha Coakley lost. She was leading in the polls, right up until two weeks before the special election, and it was a patheticly low turnout. Brown ran a fantastic campaign the first time, he was seen as a "regular Joe" and a sloppy as hell attack campaign, this last round. Even those of us who supprted him, walked away. People just got tired or the redundantcy. Instead of riding his achievementas he simply resorted to attacking Warren. Smelled of desperation.
Markey will win. With John Kerry's support, he will get the seat, not Scott Brown.
Even if Brown pulls out the barn jacket?
Chesty, you wrote: "Massachusetts voters were really worried about the presidential election"
Really? I'll tell you, most Massachusetts voters I know, were not worried a bit about who was going to win the Presidency. Don't forget, we knew the opponent. He was unfortunately our Governor for a term. I'd say we were pretty well assured of the outcome. Its the rest of the country that may have had "worry" not us. We knew Romney would implode. We've seen it too many times..
He had the Barn jacket and the Dodge Dakota goin last round... didn't help.
If he posts a web ad in the truck of him "muddin' " somewhere not far from Boston, I think he wins it.
But, the commercial has to end with him circling and pulling back up right past the front of the camera on a hard brake so that muddy water flies up and hits the TV screen, for middle-of-the-road Mass. voters at home.
Sounds like the Republicans want another war since the other two have been winding down. Every time we stick our nose in the Middle East, we screw things up and create another generation of people who hate America's guts.
If we ever figure out how to do it right, then we should go in and do something. I doubt if we will ever do it right so I think we should stand back and let the Middle East sort things out without having Americans troops killed in the process.
The " Repuke" lay blame to everyone but their own party! The reason why your party is upside down is because you have not evolved in to a human being. The primitive man is more evolved and they still think fire is good. uuummmmm.
Weak repost of an already weak stream of drivel.
John Kerry Actually did Vote for the No-Fly Zone in Syria...Before he Voted Against It
Where are John Kerry's medals you stinking liberals think he has honored so much?
He threw them all away. You might find them at a yard sale.
THAT is unfit and spits in the face of real heroes, like the ones that lay dying in Benghazi.. surrounded.. pleading for help.. that never came...
He didn't "Throw them away" he gave them back in protest of the war, the Vietnam War.
Publius, he has his medals. That as verifified through an interview done by a reporter a few years back.
If you're going to try and look like you know what you're talking about at least stick to the facts.
You wouldn't know a hero if he busted your lip.
No he does'nt. He threw them out.
The Heroes I know would never bust a person in the lip.
They are Marines. Whom only speak of their experiences in hushed back rooms, with alot a beer.
The medals they wear cannot be seen, they are given by each other. The medal of "brother", is highest medal to bestowed...
Publius, you're wrong. But what's new?
it's cool I don't display my medals, as a matter of fact I haven't seen them since I left the military in 1977, I don't do that out of disrespect they just look tacky on a business suit
What the meaning of republican: repuke; Webster say vomiting over and over again from your own stupidicy. not able to stand your seft. leaving your seft no room to evolved, mankind most ignorant animal; I repuke you in the name teabag garbage; something primitive; specifically; a primitive idea, term, or proposition: belonging to or characteristic of an early stage of developmen.
Massachusetts voters prefer Democrats. Thats just the way it is. If you don't like it, Move! (we're "stinkin liberals" as Publius says) We like Congressman Markey, he wins re-election everytime by huge margins. And we will undoubtedly elect him to replace Kerry. Beside the fact, that Kerry will come out in full support of Markey as his own personal replacement. Scott Brown should save his money. He couldn't beat Liz Warren last November, and he CAN"T beat Markey with Kerry's backing. I actually like Scott Brown, but I'd bet my paycheck (the same amount I bet against Mittster, and won) that he won't win. All his bad moves and BS he spewed on the last losing round, will just be thrown back up at him. He's done, at least for a while.
Kerry's backing means nothing.
Kennedy's backing meant something. Even so, after old fat degenerate Teddy croaked, his seat went to the other party.
Yeah, but we fixed it last November. Remember?
Don't kid yourself. Kerry has a lot of support in this state. His backing most definitely means something. But... Republiclowns can always hope. Kind of like they did with Romney / Ryan.. HAAAAAAA!
Fkn losers!!
WELL if kerry would cheat on his dying wife,,he wont have any problems selling our secrets to the enemy..
im sure thats exactaly why odumbass hired him...next thing ya know its an express lane with nukes to iran,,,,
gotta love the demon-crats
Shawn, only a male Kennedy can get liberal housewives in Massachusetts worked up in a lather enough to do everything they say.
In fact, anyone with a slight overbite can get elected in Massachusetts because of the Kennedy name.
texas only has one "s"
One word: Nightschool!
I think he knows that, Shawn. High odds.
i know sean..
you you all tingely now that you found someone to correct???
you know nothing of screen names do ya???
when texas is taken you improvise..
but then your a flaming lib so facts mean nothing to you...
one word to sean.....jerk
sean and before you show your true colors and hate...i dont live in texas
tool
Chesty, with the best health care, dental and orthodontist facilities in America, what make you think anyone in Massachusetts has an "overbite" ? We "Liberal Northern Yankees" take care of our teeth. If you can't afford your own work, we have something called MassHealth here (thanks Mitt) so you get them fixed for FREE!!
Your probably thinking about Alabama or Mississippi, (or TEXSAS) or some other redneck state.
@ texsas, I figured you didn't line there, they'd string you up for mispelling it.
a lib that like mitt????
there is a lie in there somewhere
Kennedy family video footage
Chesty, texsas, you guys gotta lighten up.
Just having some fun. Try to agree to disagree, thats all. No harm, no foul. Its just a slow day.
If the boss knew we were all screwing around on the company computer, on his dime, he'd be pissed!
True! Imagine with the money that Kennedy family has, that any of them would have bad teeth??
Must be afraid of the Dentist.. certainly can't be the cost. ouch....
heheh Shawn.
Well, we're confident you will consider Brown over Markey.
Markey? Uhhhh, long time Congressman, probly another Boston area goon, you know, up against that I put:
--male model
--barn jacket
--truck (kinda like yours, maybe, all you independent guys out there)
--likeable
--sorta good at working the crowd at random public events if he shows up
--and don't worry, he'll disagree with the Republicans enough to give you so-called "moderates" out there that warm, squishy feeling inside
I said it before, I DO like Scott Brown. I actually met the man a couple years ago at a function.
But I am convinced, that he would have a very hard time getting a Democrats Senate seat. He did do it before, but I am also convinced, that was somewhat of a fluke for Mass voters to go that way. And IT was close. He didn't run a way with it.
But... you never know.
He hasn't even decided yet to run.
And yes, I do drive a F-150 pick-up, don't we all? Its only 6 degrees in Boston today, the Barn Coat is put away until April!
hahaha
Oh come off it already, the Press will just not quit will they? First they couldn't be happier it was Senator Kerry and how it will be an easy victor for him. Why can't the press just report the news instead of trying to create all these fights.
The comment made by the Syrian teacher, that the children of the people will grow up and take revenge on all who did not help them liberate their country, will not curry favor from other countries who have helped and are being blamed for not actually winning their fight for them. After all It is not our fight to win! We have helped and are helping, but they have to realize, they, not us allowed and even encouraged Ghadafi in the early years. They, not us brought on their plight and lived with it for decades. Now they want the world to jump in and save them, so they can more than likely create another Despot in the future!!!!
"In response to both Coons and McCain, Kerry said “if you have a complete implosion of the state” in Syria after Assad’s fall, it would greatly increase the risk that Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal would fall into the wrong hands."
It was Kerry that complained the Chemical Weapons that were sent to Syria from Iraq when the US invaded, were not in Syria. Now he says the Chemical weapons if they fell into the wrong hands could be dangerous. Ok Kerry which is it. does Assad have Chemical Weapons or doesn't he? It has been known for a long time that the CW canisters were sent to Syria to keep them out of Iran and US hands.
He's like Kennedy and all the other two faced politicians that beat up on big oil, big banks, and venture capitalism. Yet he has money invested in all three. Worth 200mil and he's going to be king of the world.
In the words of Hillary..."what does it matter at this point?"
I bet the libs would have pissed in their pants if the Nixon administration said that about Watergate, or Bush would have said that about WMD's in Iraq.
Before you liberals go off on with your screaming replies, know this. I was not in favor of Bush going into Iraq.
Isn't that what we got for helping the Afghanis fight the Soviets?
The next generation of Syrian children are being killed as we sit here being rhetorically indignant.
Ulysesses Everett McGill Were not the worlds cop.
Isn't that what we recently got for helping the Libyans get rid of Gaddafi?
Qaddafi needed to go. Obviously
Ulysesses, No it is not obvious that Qaddafi had to go. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when Qaddafi gave up his WMD programs several years ago.
Now we have Al Queda and the Muslim Brotherhood trying to get their hands on the control of that country. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
kerry...wow,,,scrapeing the very bottom of the barrel on that one....
but thats obama for ya...just hire a cheating basterd,,,while his wife is dying of cancer...now just dance on the flag,and piss on the constituion and you will fit right in,,,
the usa is doomed
I think they have already danced on the flag & peed on the constitution.....lol...
dixie...lol
its an on going thing...all new hires must be tested
texsas,
You are thinking of John Edwards, not John Kerry. There are more than enough issues with his track record without making stuff up.
in 2007 a book was written titled "An Enourmous Crime" by a former congressman who was on the intelligence sub-committee looking into POW sightings in southeast asia..............Kerry and McCain blocked the work of military intelligence at every turn. this is a must read book and can be found on amazon at a reduced price. google viet nam pilot "walking K" code-book goes into attempts to rescue POW;s, but were thwarted by Kerry & McCain who sat on main intelligence committee.(walking K-rescue code for pilots when shot down)
Kerry & McCain belong in Leavenworth Federal Prison, not State or Senate. two very evil people.
1st Cav, yah I was thinking, when I heard Centrist McCain bragging today about how well John Kerry put out a report saying there was "no credible evidence" that POW's were still alive in Vietnam after 1985, I thought......
....it's a Communist police state, how could we find enough credible evidence? Is it the old American liberal stupidity about taking lying Communists at their word, which they've been idiotically doing since the 1930's?
So I was thinking---wonder if any US soldiers were alive in Nam when he and McCain put out this report, and I wonder if they would have been executed after the report came out, because it basically absolved Vietnam of having any prisoners left.
It dosen't matter whom Obama picks for these offices....that will do whatever the puppet master tells them to do....just like Clinton...she knew damn well what happened in Bengazi....she did exactly what King Obama...the liar in chief... told her to do.....lie..lie & more lies....and so will Kerry & Hagel...
dixie, cabinet members are supposed to support and promote the adminsitration's policies.
Exactly what did you think cabinet members' jobs entailed?
Chip....I don't think cabinet members are supposed to lie thier butts off to congress...and thier job...just like the POTUS is to protect the Constitution...not trample all over it...duh Chip.....
dixie .. and your proof of this lie is.... your imagination?
jock, exactly! Lying to Congress is against the law. Does anyone think that if those dolts could prove she lied that they wouldn't be all over it like a cheap suit?
These people never offer proof. They offer inane statement or regurgitate some stupid stuff they hear on FOX or the radio and try and pawn it off as fact.
What I demand from the Kerry hearings is that somebody bring up whether or not he really deserved his 3 Purple Hearts from Nam.
Question: "Senator Kerry, were any of the wounds you suffered in Vietnam and got Purple Hearts for accidentally self-inflicted because other members of your swift boat squadron say......"
Who F'ING cares?!? Is character assassination really the only thing you guys know how to do? Pathetic, dishonest, mean-spirited and sick . Grow up.
I want answers, YOU HEAR ME?
I want the TRUTH!
Giving out Purple Hearts to swifties was like handing out candy, they were no longer safe on aircraft carriers or battleships in the Gulf. They saw alot of action.
Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of which took him off duty.
The truth? come on now Chesty..
Who really cares what answers YOU want. You will only believe what you want anyways. And that goes for all of us. if you don't like him, you won't believe him, no matter what he says. So.. go ahead, ask the questions. So, he's got 3 Purple Hearts. You weren't there at war with him. So, how do you know he didn't deserve them? because somebody else said so? And why would you take that persons word, over Kerry's? Try not to believe everything you hear. Its only rhetoric for ratings.
Really. Sometimes, you just gotta learn to take the hit, and move on.
Romney lost, Obama won, Hillary will be just fine, Kerry will be Sec. of State, time to let it go.
The bitterness just smells real bad after two months.