June 19, 2014

USA: Chris Wallace Grills John Kerry 'Haven't You Handed Syria and Iran a Victory ' Fox News 9-1-13 The ISIS Islamist Militants Invaded Iraq FROM SYRIA Immediately AFTER President Obama FREED Those 5 Taliban Monsters From Gitmo.


Chris Wallace Grills John Kerry 'Haven't You Handed Syria and Iran a Victory ' Fox News 9-1-13

President Obama and John Kerry claim to give a damn about consulting Congress and respecting our US Constitutional process, but not when releasing 5 Taliban Islamist monsters back into the World. They set them free without bothering to hold a trial and keep them in prison where they belong. President Obama picks and chooses when he wants to "respect" our US Constitutional laws! The ISIS Islamist militants invaded Iraq FROM SYRIA immediately AFTER President Obama FREED those 5 Taliban monsters from Gitmo. That same week The Taliban Islamist militants massacred many in Pakistan, the al-Shabaab Islamist militants massacred many in Kenya, the Boko Haram Islamist militants massacred many in Nigeria. 
Fire Dog Lake News
written by D.S. Wright
September 17, 2014

President Obama, in order to arm Al-Qaeda linked Syrian rebels, has waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups. Not surprisingly, federal law currently bans giving weapons to terrorists. Though it seems Obama does have the authority to bypass the restriction and he is choosing to do so by arming the Syrian rebels who have links to Al Qaeda, a group still listed as supporting terrorism.
Secretary of State Kerry defends Obama's 'courageous decision' to wait for Congress on Syria; key lawmakers respond

This is a rush transcript from "Fox News Sunday," September 1, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: I'm Chris Wallace.

President Obama does an about-face and asked Congress to authorize military force in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our capacity to execute this mission isn't time sensitive. It will be effective tomorrow or next week or one month from now.

WALLACE: After days of making the case, the Assad regime killed more than a thousand of its own people with chemical weapons, the president says the deaths should not go unpunished. But --

OBAMA: While I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course and our actions will be even more effective.

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: We have a president who does what he says he will do.

WALLACE: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joins us to discuss the president's decision to delay action in Syria more than a week.

WALLACE: And hello, again, from Fox News in Washington.

President Obama shocked Washington and the world Saturday, announcing he will seek congressional approval for the use of military force against Syria. This just a day after Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S. intelligence proves the Assad regime used chemical weapons and seemed to argue for a quick response.

We'll talk with Secretary Kerry in a moment.

But, first, we have Fox team coverage. Leland Vittert from our Mideast bureau. And from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Mike Emanuel on Capitol Hill and Ed Henry with the latest on President Obama's stunning turnaround -- Ed.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Just minutes ago, top Syrian official charging President Obama showed hesitation and confusion stemming all from Friday. The president making two dramatic decisions. Time to step on the pedal, go in to Syria and then wait, let's slam on the brakes.

First, top aides say he decided early Friday, the U.S. should move forward with military action to respond to that chemical weapons attack on August 21st that Secretary Kerry claims killed over 1,400 people. But later on Friday, Kerry made that passionate case for prompt military action, calling Assad a thug. But shortly after that, Kerry going out on a limb. We got a clue that something might be amiss, when the president had a photo op and gave a more tentative case.

Top officials now say, around 6: 0 p.m. Friday night, the president went for a 45-minute walk on the south lawn of the White House with receive chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and threw him a curve ball. The president shocked by the British parliament voting down military action, revealed he was overriding Kerry and the team to seek congressional authorization.

Now, what's interesting is this is a big delay, since Congress doesn't return to work until September 9th. In a dramatic reversal because for days White House aides had said the opposite, that they would only consult Congress. Friday, about 7:00 p.m. in the Oval Office the president had a two-hour meeting with senior staff. I am told there was real division in there, because aides were concerned he could lose the vote. If he wins he could lose political capital doing that.

Kerry and other members of the cabinet only found out in phone calls from the president later in the night, though officials insist they all came together Saturday in the Situation Room. Then, the president came out in the Rose Garden. Important to note, he indicated even if Congress votes it down, he has the executive power to launch military action. That might be weeks down the road. The president declaring this menace needs to be confronted, though apparently not right away.

Within minutes of leaving the rose garden, the president and vice president went out for a golf match -- Chris.

WALLACE: Ed Henry, reporting from the White House. Ed, thanks for that.

Now, let's get an early assessment of how the president's plan will do on Capitol Hill from chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel -- Mike.

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, good morning.

Senate Foreign Relation chair Bob Menendez scheduled a hearing on the use of force for Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says military action in Syria is justified and warranted and says the Senate will vote no later than the week of September 9th. House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers says U.S. credibility is on the line after the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its people. Rogers says lawmakers must look at what failure to act would send to enemies and allies around the world. A key Republican senator says he has an open mind about the use of force in Syria but isn't sold on the administration's arguments so far.

EMANUEL: Senator Saxby Chambliss, a top Republican on the intelligence community says leadership is about reacting to crisis and quickly making tough decisions. Chambliss says the president should have demanded Congress return immediately. Florida Democrat Senator Bill Nelson says, quote, "I support the president's decision but as far as I'm concerned we should strike in Syria today."

And the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrat Carl Levin says he wants an international coalition. Quote, "It is important that the president in seeking support and participation from other countries including Arab countries, while the administration works on the coalition we should note House members will receive a classified briefing later today and House aides are saying the president will have to personally invest a lot of time and effort in making the case with lawmakers for military action in Syria -- Chris.

WALLACE: Mike, thank you.

WALLACE: Joining us now to discuss the president's stunning turnaround on Syria is Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr. Secretary, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

KERRY: Thank you. Great to be with you, Chris.

WALLACE: Mr. Secretary, you made the case for military action in the strongest possible terms on Friday.

If the situation is so dire, if Bashar Al-Assad is such a thug, why is the president waiting until Congress comes back, nine days from now, to debate this? Why not call them into session tomorrow and begin this debate and get an approval to act?

KERRY: Well, Chris, we are -- the case has not changed and the case does not change at all. The rationale for the military response the president has requested is as powerful today and will be as powerful if not more powerful each day. The fact is that yesterday, we have now learned that hair and blood samples that have come to us from east Damascus, from individuals who were engaged as first responders in east Damascus, I can report to you today they have tested positive for signatures of sarin. So, this case is going to build stronger and stronger, and the president believes that the United States of America for a decision like this is stronger when you have the time to be able to have the support of the United States Congress and obviously the support of the American people through them.

So, I think that America is stronger here. That's the president's belief. I think people should be celebrating that the president is in fact not moving unilaterally, that he is honoring the request that he heard from many people in Congress, to consult and to be engaged with them, and I think realizing that the Assad regime is already on the defensive. They are being significantly impacted by the potential of these strikes. We do not lose anything. We actually gain, and what we gain is the legitimacy of the full-throated response of the Congress of the United States and the president, acting together after our democratic process has worked properly.
Mediaite news
White House Apologizes to Feinstein for Skipping Congress in Bergdahl Swap
written by Evan McMurry
Tuesday June 3, 2014

In what may be a sign that the Obama administration thinks it erred by not notifying Congress in swapping Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay detainees, it has apologized to the ranking member of Senate Intelligence Committee for the “oversight.”

Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken apologized to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Monday evening; according the law signed into effect at the end of last year, the White House is required to give Congress thirty days’ notice of any prisoner swap. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he received a day or two advance warning, while Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) said Congress “should not be surprised” of the move given the administration’s previous briefings.

“He apologized for it and said it was an oversight,” Feinstein told reporters Tuesday afternoon, noting that “oversight” was her word, not his.
WALLACE: But, Mr. Secretary, this isn't "CSI," this isn't a civics lesson. People's lives are at stake -- as I don't have to tell you -- on the ground in Syria. In your remarks on Friday, you said that this matters and it matters beyond the borders of Syria. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY: 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. It is about Hezbollah and North Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Mr. Secretary, what message are we sending to Iran and Hezbollah and North Korea when the president announces he thinks we should take military action, but he's going to wait nine days for Congress to come back before he takes any action, and then he goes off and plays a round of golf? What message does that send to the rebels on the ground whose lives are in danger, and to our enemies who are watching?

KERRY: I think actually North Korea and Iran ought to take note that the United States of America has the confidence in its democratic process to be able to ask all of the American people to join in an action that could have profound implications with respect to Iran. The fact is that if we act, and if we act in concert, then Iran will know that this nation is capable of speaking with one voice on something like this, and that has serious, profound implications, I think, with respect to the potential of a confrontation over their nuclear program.

That is one of the things that is at stake here. I said that. You just quoted it. That and America's willingness to enforce the international norm on chemical weapons. I think we are stronger. The president believes we are stronger when the Congress of the United States joins in this. I mean, Congress can't have it both ways. You can't sit there and say, well, you got to consult with us and we ought to honor the constitutional process, and Congress has the right to make its voice heard in these decisions, and the president is giving them that opportunity, and I think you should welcome it, Chris, and the Congress and the country should welcome this.

WALLACE: But --

(CROSSTALK)

KERRY: It is a healthy debate, it's an important debate, and we do not lose anything militarily in the meantime. If Assad --

WALLACE: The refugees on the ground lose something, sir.

KERRY: -- were to decide --

WALLACE: They lose the possibility that they're going to get killed in the meantime.

Let me just, if I may, follow up. Ronald Reagan did not think he needed congressional approval to go after Gadhafi in Libya. Bill Clinton did not think he needed approval to go after Kosovo or to go after Al Qaeda. This president seems to think --

KERRY: Actually --

WALLACE: -- he needs political cover.

KERRY: Actually, Chris, at the very instant the planes were in the air on Kosovo, there was a vote in the House of Representatives, and the vote did not carry. So the truth is the president would have loved to have had the support from Congress. The fact is that our country is much stronger when we act together.

I am amazed that you would argue against the Congress of the United States weighing in, when in fact, already Assad is on the defensive, he's moving assets around, he's hunkering down, he's taking a response to the potential of a strike. And the fact is that this strike can have impact when it needs to, with the support of the Congress of the United States.

Now, if the Assad regime -- let me just finish. If the Assad regime were to be foolish enough to attack yet again and to do something in the meantime, of course the president of the United States knows he has the power to do this, and I assume the president would move very, very rapidly. But he feels we are stronger in getting the United States as a whole to gel around this policy, to understand it better, and to know what the strategy is, and why the United States needs to do this.

WALLACE: What if Congress refuses to authorize action, what happens then?

KERRY: I don't believe that's going to happen. I think the stakes of upholding the international standard of behavior that has been in place since 1925, after World War I, that only Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein have breached that in time of war since then, and now Assad joins them -- I think to contemplate that the Congress of the United States would turn its back on Israel, on Jordan, on Turkey, on our allies in the region, turn its back on innocent Syrian people who have been slaughtered by this gas, and those who yet may be subject to an attack, if we don't stand up to this, I can't contemplate that the Congress would turn its back on all of that responsibility and the fact that we would have in fact granted impunity to a ruthless dictator to continue to gas his people. Those are the stakes. And I don't believe the Congress will do that.

WALLACE: Mr. Secretary, you make it sound as if this was always the plan, but the fact is, on Friday, when you made your speech, you made a powerful call for quick action. You seemed to be leading the charge up the hill, and the reports --

KERRY: Chris, I made a powerful call for action. I never mentioned the word quick. I made the case for why we needed to take the action, and the president --

WALLACE: You called for taking a decision now. If I may, though, sir, the White House --

KERRY: The president has taken -- the president has taken his decision, Chris. The president announced his decision yesterday.

WALLACE: But nothing is going to happen for 10 days.

KERRY: His decision is to take -- well, Chris, it will happen with the consent of the Congress of the United States, and be much more powerful and I believe allow us to even do more coordinating with our friends and allies, do more planning, and frankly be far more effective. I think this is a smart decision by the president. I think it's a courageous decision. He is not trying to create an imperial presidency. He is trying to respect the process by which we are strongest in this country.

And I think the Congress --

WALLACE: But, sir, if I may --

KERRY: -- and the American people should welcome this.

WALLACE: But if I may just ask my question. The fact is that this was not the plan. The White House is acknowledging --

KERRY: I don't know why --

WALLACE: If I can just ask the question, sir. The White House is acknowledging this was not the plan. The White House podium, the press spokesman kept saying you did not need congressional approval. We're told the president went out with his chief of staff on the lawn Friday night, changed his mind, talked to White House staff, and you and other cabinet officials were informed about it after the fact. This was never the plan.

KERRY: I disagree with that. I received a telephone call from the president the night before. He discussed it. He had not made up his mind. I believe it is a good idea. I think the vice president, a whole group of people believe that the president has made a courageous decision.

And as you know, Chris, and I think, you know, I've certainly learned as a new member of the cabinet, no decision is made until the president of the United States makes the decision. You know, staff can advise; people can weigh in, but everybody knows that ultimately no decision is made until the president makes it. The president made this decision. I believe it's the right decision. I think we are stronger. The president believes very, very much that America will show the best face of our democracy and a great strength, and we will show a unity of purpose in the conviction of the Congress and the president that we need to do this.

WALLACE: Sir, I have --

KERRY: And during this time, over these next days, we have an opportunity to re-gauge and to fine-tune our strategy on Syria. I know people like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, others have thoughts about things that can strengthen it. I think we can create a unity of purpose here that actually makes America stronger and that is frankly much more damaging and much more problematic for Assad.

WALLACE: One final question, sir, and we have less than a minute left. You talk about this is going to make it worse for Assad. After the president announced his decision, officials in Damascus were saying that the president had flinched, had made a joke of the American administration. A newspaper out in the streets of Damascus today calls this, quote, "the start of the historic American retreat."

Haven't you handed Syria and Iran at least a temporary victory, sir?

KERRY: I don't believe so at all. And that is in the hands of the Congress of the United States.

The president has made his decision. The president wants to stand up and make certain that we uphold the international norm, that we do not grant impunity to a ruthless dictator to gas his own people. Anybody who saw those images, anybody who know focuses on the evidence that I just gave you about signatures of sarin in the hair and blood samples of the first responders -- I mean, first responders died. People who went to help the people who were hurt, died in this case.

This is a man who has created -- who has committed a crime against humanity, and I can't imagine that the Congress of the United States will not recognize our interests with respect to Iran, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, our friends in the region, the Syrian people, the opposition. America's credibility is on the line here, and I expect the Congress of the United States to do what is right and to stand up and be counted, and I think that the Assad regime needs to recognize that they have refocused the energy of the American people on him, on his regime, on his lack of legitimacy to govern, and on the ways we will support the opposition in order to see that the people of Syria can choose their future in an appropriate way.

WALLACE: Secretary Kerry, thank you. Thanks for joining us. It should be an interesting couple of weeks, sir.

KERRY: That it may be, but I believe that in the end, the Congress of the United States will do what is right.

WALLACE: Thank you, sir.

Up next, as the president decides to seek congressional approval, what's the reaction on Capitol Hill? We'll talk with three leading lawmakers, plus a live report from the Middle East. How will our friends and enemies read it -- the decision to delay a military strike.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: U.S. Navy warships armed with dozens of Tomahawk missiles are sitting in the eastern Mediterranean, waiting for the order to open fire. But they'll have to wait more than a week longer.

Leland Vittert joins us from our Mideast bureau -- Leland.

LELAND VITTERT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Chris, leaders around the region are scratching their heads asking two things -- what happened, and what does it mean now? Up until yesterday, when the American president drew a line in the sign it meant something. Now folks aren't sure. Government officials in Israel will use words like coward off the record.

The Syrians meanwhile are declaring victory on state TV today. President Assad said, quote, "Syria will not change its principles."

Syria's deputy prime minister speaking on television yesterday said America had lost the battle before it started. The administration had made a joke of itself. That was while Syrian state TV showed street parties in celebration.

The Syrians spent the week moving military hardware around to keep it away from U.S. targeting to make good on their promise to attack Tel Aviv if the U.S. struck in response to that. Israel deployed its iron dome missile defense system, called up reserve soldiers, canceled military leave, those kinds of things. The Israelis say they will remain on high alert through the next period to see what the Americans do.

But there is probably a bigger story here from the Israeli perspective and from the Middle East perspective. What the U.S. did about Syria was seen as a test for what President Obama may do about Iran, something he's drawn a similar red line about when it comes to the Iranian nuclear program. There is now a fear in Israel if push comes to shove with Iran, the Israelis may have to go it alone.

Strength, of course, in the Middle East isn't measured by what you say but what you do, Chris. Especially now it is looked as though the Syrians, for that matter even the Russians, were eye to eye with President Obama and President Obama has blinked. In order for him to regain his credibility in the region for, of course, the red lines of the president of the United States to mean something, it's seen as that will be judged over the next couple of weeks, Chris, by what President Obama actually does, not what he or members of his administration say.

Back to you.

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