In what looks like an off-the-cuff blunder, Secretary of State John
Kerry might have accidentally given Russian President Vladmir Putin the
opportunity to muddy the international diplomatic waters and buy his
friends in Syria some time.
During
a press briefing
on Monday, Kerry said that Assad could avoid American air strikes by
giving up all his chemical weapons within a week. Within hours, the
State Department was forced
to walk Kerry's new red line back
with the claim that he was making a "rhetorical argument about the
impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he
has denied he used."
It seems, then, reasonable to conclude that Kerry spoke out of turn.
Kerry was not authorized to offer Syria an "out" or a new ultimatum. But
Kerry's hypothetical hyperbole appears to have already backfired.
In an obvious desire to make Kerry pay for his flub and throw a
wrench in Obama's determination to go to war with Syria, Putin has
seized upon
Kerry's hypothetical and called on Syria to accept Kerry's offer and
turn over all of its chemical weapons. No one believes Assad would ever
willingly give up his chemical weapons, but should he agree to an offer
the Obama administration did not mean to make, it could stall American
action for weeks and even months.
Syria is already
warming to the idea.
This complication could be a major blow to all of the Obama
administration's prepared plans to punish Assad for using the weapons
and to change the balance of power in the ongoing Syrian civil war.
Public opposition to Obama's war is
already surging.
Weeks or months from now, after the torturous international diplomatic
process that no one believes would end with Assad giving up the chemical
weapons that keep him in power winds down, it is doubtful Congress or
the American public would be ready to stomach a renewed push for war.
But now that Putin has suggested Syria say "yes" to an offer Kerry
was sure no one would accept, the Associated Press is reporting that the
State Department will take a "
hard look" at Russia's proposal.
Just like Obama's unscripted "red line" comment that started this
debacle, it looks as though another off-teleprompter administration
blunder has shoved America's foreign policy into a corner.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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