David Craig, on September 9th, 2013As he tries to convince the US to bomb Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry has accused the Syrian government of committing a “cowardly crime” and a “moral obscenity” by using chemical weapons to attack civilians. And he has called Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad a “thug and murderer” and likened him to Hitler.
Here’s lovely photo. It’s John Kerry and his wife having a pleasant intimate dinner with Assad and his wife in 2009.
In February 2009, Kerry led a delegation to engage Syria. At the time Kerry said “Syria is an essential player in bringing peace and stability to the region.” Here are Kerry and Assad at one of their meetings:
For his part, Assad said in 2010, “I trust Senator Kerry, and I think he’s genuine . . . I met him five times.”
Then in March 2011, Kerry, as a senator from Massachusetts, told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace “President Assad has been very generous with me in terms of the discussions we have had.” He also reportedly called Assad “a reformer”.
Kerry also praised Assad as being a “very generous” man. “Well, I personally believe that — I mean, this is my belief, okay? But President Assad has been very generous with me in terms of the discussions we have had. And when I last went to — the last several trips to Syria — I asked President Assad to do certain things to build the relationship with the United States and sort of show the good faith that would help us to move the process forward.”
Now, of course, the situation in Syria has changed and Kerry is entitled to change his mind about Assad. In 2009, Kerry, then a senator, was sent to Syria by his predecessor as Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to see if Assad could help the US bring peace to the Middle East and so Kerry had to be diplomatic in public about his opinions of Assad as the US tried to befriend the Syrian president (whatever Kerry may have thought about Assad in private).
But, given that we have no proof yet that it was Assad and not the rebels who used the Sarin, Kerry’s unseemly and increasingly frantic efforts to start a war with Assad, before we get the results from the UN weapons inspectors, don’t sit well alongside the pictures of their somewhat cosier relationship just a couple of years ago.
In 2010 Assad told journalists that he trusted Senator Kerry. I wonder if he still does?
It’s possible/probable/definite (delete as appropriate) that you won’t find any mention of this story in your daily newspaper
Category: 
Your article, once again, shows us the duplicity and deceitfulness of
politicians.
Two things to deduce here.
Kerry is a fair weather friend, and Assad is a poor judge of character.
O/T
In the 10 days leading up to our daughter’s wedding, my wife must have visited a dozen or so websites, several times a day, in order to gauge what the weather might produce on the big day. It drove me round the bend. 100% chance of rain, 60% chance of rain, warm, windy, showery. Each site seemed to change its prediction every time. I concluded that they don’t have the 1st clue, and nor do the climate scientists.
In the end the weather was perfect as was the big day.