John Kerry’s Tender Sensibilities

In response to Bashir Assad’s crossing of a "red line" by allegedly using chemical weapons against his own people, Secretary of State John Kerry cites his own fatherly feelings as justification for the all-but-inevitable looming US military intervention in Syria. "As a father, I can’t get the image out of my head, of a father who held up his dead child, wailing …"

Hopefully CNN will try extra hard to sanitize the war footage from Syria once the bombing starts, now that we know how badly dead Syrian kids upset Kerry. Because you can be sure there are a lot more dead Syrian kids on the way.

Of course, Kerry’s sensitivity to dead children is a bit like Carter having a problem with liver pills. This is the same John Kerry who served in Vietnam, and who backed two attacks on Iraq and one on Afghanistan, is it not? One of the most iconic images in the history of journalism is a little girl, naked and burning, running down a Vietnamese road after a chemical weapons attack by the United States. And the US all but condemned Al-Jazeera as a terrorist organization for airing images of Iraqi children incinerated in the American attack in 2003.

For that matter, US "redlining" of a country for using chemical weapons is also a bit odd. In the same press conference, Kerry spoke of holding Iraq accountable for violating international, historically established norms. But the US itself has quite a history of violating such norms. In WWII, for instance, the U.S. holds pride of place not only for the firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo, but for being the first and only military power in history to burn hundreds of thousands of civilians alive with atomic weapons in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As for chemical weapons, aren’t Agent Orange and napalm – the liquid fire used on that screaming little girl mentioned above – supposed to count? The cumulative effect of US chemical weapons use in Indochina is millions dead during the war in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia – and millions more dead of cancer and genetic defects in the decades since.

While we’re on the subject of chemical weapons, the story just came out – at about the worst possible time for the US, as it’s rolling out its propaganda for another war – that the US actively aided Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in targeting Iranian troops with nerve gas. It was known for some time that the Reagan administration had shared intelligence with Iraq at the same time it was using chemical weapons in the Gulf War. But it turns out Washington was supplying intelligence in full knowledge that that intelligence would be used to identify Iranian troop concentrations for targeting with nerve agents. Iran was preparing for the strategic exploitation of a huge hole in Saddam’s defenses, which might well have turned the tide of the war and led to enormous Iranian gains at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates, increasing military pressure on Kuwait and other Arab Gulf states.

The overall American policy arc in Iraq from the ’80s on seems to be: 1) Help Saddam to make war on his neighbors; 2) help Saddam use weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors; 3) encourage Saddam to invade Kuwait; 4) bomb the hell out of Saddam in 1991 for invading Kuwait and making war against his neighbors; 5) bomb the hell out of Saddam in 2003 for possibly still having weapons of mass destruction.

In short, the United States simply does not give a rip about Saddam, Assad, or anyone else using chemical weapons or committing war crimes of any kind. The US routinely supports regimes that engage in war crimes – and then publicly condemns them for war crimes only when they stop taking orders from Washington or otherwise become a liability. War crimes by official enemies are just a propaganda point for selling wars to the public.

Consumer advisory: Don’t buy a used war from this man.

Kevin Carson is a senior fellow of the Center for a Stateless Society and holds the Center’s Karl Hess Chair in Social Theory.

Reprinted from Center for a Stateless Society with permission.

109 thoughts on “John Kerry’s Tender Sensibilities”

  1. Pingback: John Kerry’s Tender Sensibilities | Alternative News Alert!

  2. Indeed it is war against Quran..OPEX do not approve of NO sky zone=kill all mujaheddin then we change madoff faces just like Hamad Qatar .

  3. " the story just came out that the US actively aided Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in targeting Iranian troops with nerve gas".

    One of most jaw dropping statements in Kerry's manufactured speech much have been this: "It is about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons’ attacks, will now feel emboldened in the absence of action to obtain nuclear weapons. "

    Is it really about that then? In one breath mentioning the former victims of a chemical attack which have your fingerprints all over it and yet still advocating that punishing Assad would also discourage that former victim Iran from building more evil weaponry? It's at that very moment his speech ruptured another hole in the space-time continuum and managed to bizarre even the bizarro itself.

  4. > Kerry spoke of holding Iraq accountable

    Should be "Syria".

    Additionally:

    1) Help Saddam to make war on his neighbors
    2) help Saddam use weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors
    3) encourage Saddam to invade Kuwait
    4) bomb the hell out of Saddam in 1991 for invading Kuwait and making war against his neighbors; 5) bomb the hell out of Saddam in 2003 for possibly still having weapons of mass destruction.

    should be

    1) Help Saddam to make war on Iran
    2) Help Saddam use weapons of mass destruction against Iran (but note that back then the concept of "WMD" as a psychological hot button to start a war was not as clearcut, see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_rain)
    3) Shill for Saddam while his Al-Anfal campaign (aka "gassing his own people") is ripping
    4) Not discourage (aka "emboldened" in modern politicospeak) Saddam to invade Kuwait
    5) Bomb the hell out of Saddam in 1991 for invading Kuwait and making war against Kuwait
    6) Let Saddam fuck over good the southern and northern insurgents while looking the other way (any promised help wasn't materializing)
    7) Impose no-fly zones and use Saddam for 10 years as a stage villain always "ready to have WMD the next week" while running the Clintonian sanctions regime aided by cruise missiles.
    8) Bomb the hell out of Saddam in 2003 to have a beachead towards Iran (it had to with WMD only in a psychological feedback way)

  5. Hopefully CNN will try extra hard to sanitize the war footage from Syria once the bombing starts, now that we know how badly dead Syrian kids upset Kerry. Because you can be sure there are a lot more dead Syrian kids on the way.

    1. then? In one breath mentioning the former victims of a chemical attack which have your fingerprints all over it and yet still advocating that punishing Assad would also discourage that former victim Iran from building more evil weaponry? It's at that very moment his speech ruptured another hole in the space-time continuum and managed to bizarre even the bizarro itself. regarding Porter Stansberry's most recent post

  7. Same as Iraq, it was those of background as Baghdad thieves who claimed that Saddam Hussein posses nuclear weapon.., or what is called WMD., look at UN filmed document when general Powell present that little tub to the world describing it to be the "tub" which have the power to wipeout the world, now carefully look at John Negroponte seating beside then CIA chief, just behind Powell with (translators) headphone and as Powell explains the WMD tub, Negroponte reads from a file in front of him. Thus far nothing seams to be strange or wring but two thing,

    1- why would John Negroponte having a UN translator head phone, doesn't he understand (English) what general Powell is saying and who is in other end and in what language "translating" what Powell is saying?

    2-what is in that file that John Negroponte looking at, is it possible that: what John is looking at is a transcript of what general Powell needs to say to nail the request for invading Iraq, one obscured word here or there might jeopardize the goal of Bush, Saudis, UAE regime?

    Syria government chemical attack is the same scenario, with evidence presented thus far, is same game played by what house. What is different is there is no Johan Negroponte in White House, but John Negroponte is replaced by John Kerry working for the same (US) government hegemony as John Negroponte. This is nothing new for US government lying about something, they lied about Vietnam, they lied about Korean War, they lied about bombing Sudan and all other countries they bombed for no apparent reasons at all. They, England, French, Germans, USA government lied about Balkan war, they lied about Iraq, they lied about Libya and now they have no other choice but to lie again, once a lier always a lier.

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    1. One of the most iconic images in the history of journalism is a little girl, naked and burning, running down a Vietnamese road after a chemical weapons attack by the United States. And the US all but condemned Al-Jazeera as a terrorist organization for airing images of Iraqi children incinerated in the American attack in 2003. one of her posts|recent posts about Marnie

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  11. The US routinely backs administrations that participate in war criminal acts – and afterward freely censures them for war wrongdoings just when they quit taking requests from Washington or generally turn into a risk. War unlawful acts by official foes are only a purposeful publicity indicate for offering wars people in genera.

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  12. Israeli minister apologizes to Kerry for 'messianic' remarks
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    2. Vietnamese road after a chemical weapons attack by the United States. And the US all but condemned Al-Jazeera as a terrorist organization for airing images of Iraqi children incinerated in the American attack in 2003. LinkedIn

    1. Tokyo, but for being the first and only military power in history to burn hundreds of thousands of civilians alive with atomic weapons in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Marc Sparks

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  27. The cumulative effect of US chemical weapons use in Indochina is millions dead during the war in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

  30. Notably, Koh defends the legality and the necessity of the drone war, but quibbles with the administration’s secrecy primarily because it has unhelpful consequences in public perceptions of the covert targeted killing program.

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  32. This is the same John Kerry who served in Vietnam, and who backed two attacks on Iraq and one on Afghanistan, is it not? One of the most iconic images in the history of journalism is a little girl,
    See more

  33. It was known for some time that the Reagan administration had shared intelligence with Iraq at the same time it was using chemical weapons in the Gulf War.

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  39. One of most jaw dropping statements in Kerry's manufactured speech much have been this: "It is about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons’ attacks, will now feel emboldened in the absence of action to obtain nuclear weapons. "
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  40. awww! he is so tender. his sensible nature is what makes him cute in a lot of people's perspective. and his speeches are top notch as well. he is a good guy.

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