John Kerry: The Next Neville Chamberlain?

Secretary of State John Kerry told members of Congress Wednesday that “we have the capacity” to “knock out ISIL,” but “we’re not going to get suckered into that.” As Kerry delivered his opening testimony, anti-war protesters repeatedly interrupted him, despite of the Secretary of State’s nuanced response to potential boots on the ground. Reaction from protesters reached a boiling point when Capitol Police were instructed to immediately escort protesters out of the room.

“Killing innocent people? I wonder how our journalists who were beheaded and a pilot who was fighting for freedom, who was burned alive, what they would have to say to their efforts to protect innocent people,” Kerry said. Oddly enough, the interrupting protesters continued to chant that the American people were “tired of an endless war” and that it would lead to the “killing of endless people.” The agreement between the protestors and speaker indicates a lack of trust over the words of the administration.

Secretary Kerry equated taking action against ISIS with “Killing innocent people.” While war always has unforeseen, undesirable outcomes, it is hard to believe that the hundreds of Iraqis and Syrians who are killed by ISIS on a weekly basis see military assistance as what is killing innocent people. The crisis in the Middle East has grown even direr in recent days, with Iranian Shiite militias entering Iraq to sure up foreign control of the embattled country.