Why U.S. Secretary Of State Kerry Wants To Strike Syria

U.S. Sen. John Kerry reads a statement after a meeting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus April 1, 2010. REUTERS/ Stringer

Why Kerry Wants To Strike Syria -- Jeffrey Goldberg, Bloomberg

esterday, shortly after I posted a column on Secretary of State John Kerry’s push to have the White House approve U.S. strikes on Syrian airfields -- and how Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey pushed back strongly against the idea -- I heard from a number of people who support Kerry’s stance and think that the Pentagon is being unnecessarily timid.

(I myself am one of the approximately three columnists in the U.S. who don’t know exactly what President Barack Obama ought to do in Syria. On the one hand, the Syrian civil war represents a humanitarian nightmare and an acute strategic challenge; on the other, I don’t think the U.S. is capable of mediating a Sunni-Shiite civil war, and so shouldn’t try).

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My Comment: I am actually surprised by these reports. US Secretary of State John Kerry never struck me as someone who would advocate so forcefully the use of military force. As to how Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey pushed back .... I am not surprised .... General Patton he is not.