Josh Rogin
The Daily Beast
2/3/2014
In a closed-door meeting, two senators say, the Secretary of State admitted to them that he no longer believes the administration’s approach to the crisis in Syria is working. Peace talks have failed, he conceded, and now it’s time to arm the moderate opposition—before local al Qaeda fighters try to attack the United States.
Secretary of State John Kerry has lost faith in his own administration’s Syria policy, he told fifteen U.S. Congressmen in a private, off-the-record meeting, according to two of the senators who were in the room…
…[Sen. John] McCain wants the U.S. to establish a safe zone in northern Syria protected by U.S. patriot missile batteries currently stationed in Turkey. Graham said he thinks the U.S. should use drones to directly attack extremists inside Syria. McCain does not favor drone strikes.
At one point in Kerry’s 45-minute Munich meeting with the lawmakers, he sought to gauge the popular appetite for more aggressive action in Syria, asking the lawmakers, “Where are your constituents at?” Lawmakers inside the meeting told Kerry that without leadership and public discussion of such options from President Obama, there was no way individual Congressmen would be able to convince a war weary public to get more involved…
Read the entire article at The Daily Beast.
