Russia'a Putin Calls John Kerry A Liar On Syria

[Purveyor]

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar for denying that al-Qaida was fighting with the Syrian opposition in that country's civil war.

Speaking Wednesday to his human rights council, Putin recalled watching a congressional debate where Kerry was asked about al-Qaida and denied that it was operating in Syria, even though he was aware of the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group.

Putin said: "This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them (the Americans) and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad."

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_KERRY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-09-04-15-52-33

[Drale]

1. Because Putin is such a truthful, trustworthy fellow. /nt

[snappyturtle]

4. Well, I've read that al Qaeda is affiliated with

the Jabhat al-Nusra group known to be in Syria.
The Russians also gave us a heads up on the Boston
bomber so altho we need to listen with caution, Putin
is right on this imho.

[bunnies]

5. No. He's not.

But he's right on this one.

[Harmony Blue]

2. AQ and affiliates are a fragement of the Syrian resistance

so what Putin said is correct.

[David__77]

12. They dominate the opposition.

Yes, there are also some other powerful Islamist terrorist groups beside AQ within the opposition. The man who cannibalized a government soldier on film was, however, a "moderate" member of the FSA.

[dipsydoodle]

3. the opposition has "increasingly become more defined by its moderation ?

The al-Qaeda linked “Jabhat al-Nusra” (al-Nusra Front) in Syria, has been held responsible for having instigated a sectarian racist war against civilian Kurds in Syria’s northern Kurdish region, the outcomes of which recently led to the massacre of hundreds of Kurdish women and children, “some of whom were raped and beheaded by jihadists”, says Syrian opposition officials, witnesses and victims.

Human rights activists in Syria’s Kurdish region have confirmed that 450 Kurdish civilians, “mostly women and children, were slaughtered indiscriminately inside their homes at the hands of jihadists of the al-Nusra Front in Tal Abyad, Tal Hassil and Tal A’ran areas of Syrian Kurdistan from July 28 – August 2, 2013.”

http://www.opendemocracy.net/rozh-ahmad/mass-slaughter-of-civilian-kurds-in-syria-ignites-heavy-clashes-and-mass-exodus

[last1standing]

6. A liar calls a liar a liar. News at 11!

n/t

[jakeXT]

7. This one was good, too

7) Asking us to trust U.S. intelligence on chemical weapons because of James Clapper.

Presented with historically understandable skepticism about the quality of U.S. intelligence about Assad using chemical weapons, Kerry said this:

The intelligence community, represented by DNI Clapper, has released a public document, unclassified, available for all to see in which they make their judgment with high confidence that the facts are as they have set forth. So you know, I think that speaks for itself.

Clapper, as you may recall, is a sworn liar. That, like so much of Kerry's testimony yesterday, indeed speaks for itself.

http://reason.com/blog/2013/09/04/john-kerrys-morally-linguistically-and-h

[blm]

8. Kerry didn't say that - he said they'd work with the moderate opposition

that was not working alongside Al Qaeda.

Kerry didn't say that Al Qaeda was not in Syria opposing Assad.

[ProSense]

9. Do the facts really matter?

I mean, the most important thing here is to ignore what Kerry actually said in order to agree with Putin that he's a "liar."

Get with the program.

[jakeXT]

13. He said

SEN. JOHNSON: What do we know about the opposition? I mean, what is -- have we been tracking them for the last two years? I mean, it seems like -- and this is more of an impression I have as opposed to any exact knowledge, but it seems like initially, the opposition was maybe more Western-leaning, more moderate, more democratic, and as time has gone by, it's degraded, become more infiltrated by al-Qaida. That -- is that basically true? Or to -- (inaudible) -- has that happened?

SEC. KERRY: No, that is -- no, that is actually basically not true. It's basically incorrect. The opposition has increasingly become more defined by its moderation, more defined by the breadth of its membership and more defined by its adherence to some, you know, democratic process and to an all-inclusive, minority-protecting constitution, which will be broad-based and secular with respect to the future of Syria. And that's very critical.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/running-transcript-senate-foreign-services-committee-hearing-on-syria/2013/09/03/35ae1048-14ca-11e3-b182-1b3bb2eb474c_story_4.html

[ProSense]

14. “I just don’t agree that the majority are al-Qaeda or bad guys, that’s just not true,” Kerry said.

“I just don’t agree that the majority are al-Qaeda or bad guys, that’s just not true,” Kerry said. He estimated the total number of members of the opposition at between 70,000 and 100,000.

Out of those, “15 to 25 percent might be in one group or another that we would consider bad guys,” Kerry said.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/john-kerry-15-to-25-percent-of-syrian-opposition-are-bad-guy

What you posted shows Kerry rejecting the claim that it has become "become more infiltrated by al-Qaida."

What Kerry stated is that he doesn't believe all the "bad guys" are members of al-Qaeda. He's saying the vast majority of the opposition are not.

[jakeXT]

15. So he is saying it was more in the past and is getting better ?

McCaul 'stunned' at Kerry's estimate of jihadists among Syrian rebels

A top ranking Republican House member says Secretary of State John Kerry is being "disingenuous" in his estimate of the number of jihadists in the Syrian rebels forces.

House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul (R–Texas) told reporters that he was "stunned" to hear Kerry tell House members on Wednesday that the number of jihadists serving in the Syrian rebel forces comprises less than a quarter of anti-Syrian government fighters.

McCaul says he's learned in various briefings that the number of jihadists migrating to Syria to take on the government there is closer to 50 percent.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/320315-mccaul-stunned-at-kerrys-estimate-of-jihadists-among-syrian-rebels

[ProSense]

16. Now there is a guy even more trustworthy than Putin. n/t

[jakeXT]

21. Someone is lying or not doing their job...either Kerry or State Dept, Homeland Security or McCaul

McCaul told Kerry that in the briefings he received the number of extremists fighting against Assad was estimated to be half of the total opposition force. That the secretary of state and the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee have such vastly different estimates on the number of extremists fighting Assad is worrying and hardly reassuring.

http://reason.com/blog/2013/09/04/how-many-extremists-are-in-syria-anyway

[Bolo Boffin]

17. Kerry denied that the Syrian opposition is degrading into Al-Qaeda

Putin misrepresented what Kerry said.

[jakeXT]

20. We get what he meant ...I posted what K. said..If it's a least untruthful answer, history will show

[blm]

18. The factions THEY are working with are increasingly more moderate.

Why is that unbelievable to you? You prefer to believe the RW memes that Kerry and Obama are palling around with Al Qaeda?

[jakeXT]

19. So if you stop working with them, they just magically disappear ? poof, here are our 50 new CIA

trained humanitarian democratic rebels ?

[Catherina]

10. Gawd, even the complicit MSM can't keep up with all the lies now

&feature=player_embedded

[FarCenter]

11. Attacking Al-Qaeda in Syria

Al-Qaeda actually has two major factions in Syria. The al-Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra, was formed in early 2012 with the assistance of al-Qaeda’s Iraqi franchise. The group initially played down its al-Qaeda connection, but now openly trumpets its loyalty to al-Qaeda's leader, the Egyptian Ayman Zawahiri, currently hiding out in Pakistan. Sunnis from across the Arab world have been streaming to al-Nusra, with scores already martyred in the Syrian conflict.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is likewise directly active in Syria. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, also known as Abu D’ua, masterminded the July attacks on two Iraqi prisons that sprung hundreds of al-Qaeda members and sympathizers. He had in April announced that AQI, branching out, would henceforth be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. (Al-Sham refers to what is today Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.)

Baghdadi also proclaimed his assumption of the leadership of al-Qaeda across the Fertile Crescent, pointing out that in 2004 Osama bin Laden had appointed his predecessor, AQI founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, commander of the area. In August, the State Department revealed that Baghdadi had transferred his base of operations to Syria, certainly making it harder for Iraqi security forces to pinpoint his whereabouts. The United States is offering a $10 million reward for information resulting in his capture or death.

Mohammad al-Golani, a Syrian who worked with Zarqawi in Iraq and now leads the al-Nusra Front , claims to be independent of Baghdadi, instead reporting directly to al-Zawahiri. Nonetheless, on the battlefield, the two al-Qaeda affiliates are cooperating in the fight to bring down Assad.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/undermine-al-qaeda-syria.html