According to ABC News, President Obama has decided to nominate Sen. John Kerry to be his next secretary of state, replacing Hillary Clinton.
The news will not be announced in the next few days for a variety of reasons, including the conclusion of the nomination process, and other, more pressing cabinet decisions. Also, the White House will want to wait until the national reaction to the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School subsides.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is recovering from an illness and a concussion she suffered when she fainted because of that illness, will retire from office in the next few weeks.
Massachusetts Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry spoke at the Democratic convention about President Obama’s relationship with Israel, saying he “promised always to stand with Israel, to tighten sanctions on Iran – and take nothing off the table.” He also cited PM Netanyahu’s praise for American policy regarding Israel, adding his now famous zinger: “When it comes to Israel, I’ll take the word of Israel’s prime minister over Mitt Romney any day.”
But according to WikiLeaks (as spotted by breitbart.com), on a February, 2010 trip to the Middle East, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, that a Palestinian capital should be established in East Jerusalem as part of the Arab-Israeli peace process, and that he was “shocked” by what he saw on a visit to Gaza.
WikiLeaks revealed that Kerry discussed the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process” in a visit to Qatar during separate meetings with Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani and the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa.
Now, here’s a bit of un-prophecy (The opposite of prophecy? Complete misreading of the map by someone who should know better?): During that 2010 get-together, the emir told Kerry to focus on Syria as the… path toward resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
And listen to this: Kerry agreed with the emir that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a man who wants change.
OK, he also pointed Assad’s arming of Hezbollah and interference in Lebanese politics, saying those were unhelpful. But Kerry said that Assad “needs to make a bolder move and take risks” for peace, and that he should be “more statesman-like.”
Kerry also agreed with the emir that the Golan Heights should be given back to Syria at some point. “The Chairman added that Netanyahu also needs to compromise and work the return of the Golan Heights into a formula for peace,” the diplomatic cable reported.
Yes, let’s take advice on our fate from this man. Remember, the bloodshed in Syria began about one year after that call for reliance on Assad for Middle East peace.
In a separate meeting the day before with the prime minister, Kerry resisted the Qatari leader’s assertion that Hamas was ready to accept the existence of the State of Israel, but he agreed that urgent action was needed to rebuild Gaza.
According to the leaked diplomatic cable, the prime minister told Kerry, “We need to broker a quick reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and move forward quickly on rebuilding Gaza… Senator Kerry asserted that HBJ [Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani] was preaching to the converted and told the PM he was ‘shocked by what I saw in Gaza.'”
In other words, our next Secretary of State was in favor of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation which is happening right before our eyes – “You’re preaching to the converted,” he told the Qatari leader.
Anyone here wishing we’d have said yes to Susan Rice?