Ed Morrissey:
John Kerry has come to Capitol Hill to deliver the hard-sell on war against Bashar al-Assad, but Reuters reports that his supporting data is rather suspect. Kerry insists, as does John McCain, that the Free Syrian Army controls the opposition in Syria and that radical Islamist elements comprise only a small percentage of rebel fighting units. However, intelligence from US and European agencies put the radical Islamists near parity in numbers, and far more in control than Kerry and the Obama administration acknowledge:
Secretary of State John Kerry’s public assertions that moderate Syrian opposition groups are growing in influence appear to be at odds with estimates by U.S. and European intelligence sources and nongovernmental experts, who say Islamic extremists remain by far the fiercest and best-organized rebel elements. …
U.S. and allied intelligence sources and private experts on the Syrian conflict suggest that assessment is optimistic.
While the radical Islamists among the rebels may not be numerically superior to more moderate fighters, they say, Islamist groups like the al Qaeda-aligned Nusra Front are better organized, armed and trained.
Kerry insists that FSA’s General Salim Idriss has control, and the opposition is even holding elections for its leaders:
Kerry replied: “I just don’t agree that a majority are al Qaeda and the bad guys. That’s not true. There are about 70,000 to 100,000 oppositionists … Maybe 15 percent to 25 percent might be in one group or another who are what we would deem to be bad guys.
“There is a real moderate opposition that exists. General Idriss is running the military arm of that,” Kerry continued, referring to General Salim Idriss, head of the rebel Free Syrian Army. Increasingly, he said, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are funneling assistance through Idriss.
According to Foreign Policy, though — hardly a conservative mouthpiece on foreign affairs — Idriss’ grasp on the opposition is crumbling, and may have been ephemeral all along. Instead, his commanders have suddenly developed a taste for working with the elements that Kerry insists are too small to matter:
Let’s say this part of this story is false:
From Ed M: Kerry insists, as does John McCain, that the Free Syrian Army controls the opposition in Syria and that radical Islamist elements comprise only a small percentage of rebel fighting units.
And from Reuters:
So, Let’s say Kerry is correct, only a small minority of the rebels are al Qaeda.
Who’s in charge?
To answer that question we go back to that first story:
Lots of foot soldiers among the Syrian rebels.
Only a few in charge.
Those few include all the al Qaeda rebels.
Kerry is as wrong as he can be.
Secretary of State John Kerry said at Wednesday’s hearing that Arab counties have offered to pay for the entirety of unseating President Bashar al-Assad if the United States took the lead militarily.
“With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assess, the answer is profoundly yes,” Kerry said. “They have. That offer is on the table.”
Asked by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) about how much those countries would contribute, Kerry said they have offered to pay for all of a full invasion.
“In fact, some of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the whole thing the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll carry that cost,” Kerry said. “That’s how dedicated they are at this. That’s not in the cards, and nobody’s talking about it, but they’re talking in serious ways about getting this done.
So, hey, all’s cool. We’ll just get the Arabs to pay for our war and turn our military into nothing more than mercenaries. Maybe we could change the name of our military to The U.S. Guns For Hire.
Kerry is now threatening Americans that, if we don’t do the pinprick, Assad’s enemies will be more radical than they already are!
So, it will be OUR fault if Syria becomes another Libya or Egypt under the MB.
I wonder the same as Allahpundit at Hot Air….does Obama plan to pinprick Assad AND drone kill just the radical Islamist leaders at the same time?
Video of Kerry with Allahpundit’s comments and many links here:
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/05/kerry-on-syrian-rebels-brutality-itll-get-worse-if-we-dont-intervene/
“…he has WMD stockpiles and we need to invade before the smoking gun is a mushroom cloud” Oh, wait, that was that war criminal Bush lying before he killed hundreds of thousands.
@This one:
So you think that in Syria it is better to back those that cut out the heart of a Syrian soldier and eat the heart? Or those who execute Syrian soldiers instead of holding them as prisoners of war? Or those who bomb Christian towns and tear down a historic state of the Virgin Mary because it insults Islam? Or those who behead anyone who they think, without proof, like the Syrian Christians, anyone that they have decided with no proof are supporters of Assad?
Yeah, those are your “good” guys, the one. So it is quite obvious why you back Obama without question; you’re dumber than a brick.
@retire05: Kerry says “That’s not in the cards and nobody is talking about it.” Except some gal called Reto5. Yea the one agreeing with progressive Grayson Strange bedfellows indeed.
@Richard Wheeler:
John Fonda Kerry was giving a presser and told everyone to read some woman’s article (white paper) and the dumba$$ could not even get her name right. Kerry’s a known liar and not the sharpest knife in the drawer but hey, even though he lied about your brothers in arms, you stick with him, Richard, since your party loyality seems to trump even your esprit de corp.
@retire05: It’s you who chose to erroneously EXPAND on what Kerry said. No need for that.
I know you dislike the French but I say again It’s CORPS
@Richard Wheeler:
Do I hold John Fonda Kerry in disdain? You bet and I have for decades once a slug, always a slug with Kerry. But you hang in there with a man most vets consider a traitor and in some other post you can blather, again, how your Marine buddies trump everything with you. Everything except party loyality, it seems.
@retire05: Your personal hatred for Kerry is irrelevant here. You are ranting and making stuff up. No need–doesn’t enhance your credibility on other issues.
Semper Fi
retire05
THEY HAVE THE WRONG SIDE TO BEGIN THE WAR,
if they go there and try to take ASSAD, the mistake will be so great as the mistake of EGYPT,
and LIBYA mistake, the ALQAEDA will take the lead, after IRAN AND HESBOHLA RUSSIA WILL HAVE DEPLOYED ON AMERICA MILITARY
HELL, I think that’s what OBAMA WOULD LIKE AN ALL WORLD WIDE WAR BEFORE HE LEAVE,
BYE