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Tags: Kerry | Bush | ISIS | Iraq

Kerry Blames Iraq on Bush, Calls ISIS 'Horrible' Killers

Kerry Blames Iraq on Bush, Calls ISIS 'Horrible' Killers
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters/Landov)

Thursday, 02 October 2014 11:27 AM EDT

Secretary of State John Kerry has ripped into the violent Islamic State extremists, calling them “really horrible” murderers who go on killing rampages without mercy.

And in an interview with Vogue, Kerry blamed the Bush administration for the Iraq crisis and warned that world leaders must prevent young people from being “co-opted” or radicalized by “the demagoguery of individual leaders.”

“They’re ugly,” he said about the Islamic State (ISIS) fighters. “They’re really horrible — as bad as anything I’ve seen in public life. They’re willing to kill indiscriminately. They have proclaimed definitively that they intend to attack the West.”

And he said that several countries in the Middle East, including Israel, Jordan, Iran and Syria, want the terror group eliminated. “All of us are unwilling to tolerate the rise of a jihadist ISIS.”

While noting that the United States is now in an “age of alliances and partnerships,” he declared, “Democracy is not on the wane. People want democracy.”

But he explicitly warned of the danger that the U.S. and other countries face from “young people around the world being co-opted by the demagoguery of individual leaders.”

He added, “If we don’t find a global approach to them, we’re all going to feel the heat.”

Kerry was asked whether it was “painful” to watch the sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. “Well, it makes me angry,” he replied. “Painful is not the word I’d choose. We never should have turned it upside down. Having done so, they (the George Bush administration) never put a political process together.”

Kerry, the Democratic nominee who lost the 2004 presidential election to George W. Bush, also told Vogue that his job as secretary of state has made him feel “liberated.”

“I feel comfortable, and I feel free,” he said. “I feel completely liberated. But, you know, I was a lot better senator after I ran for president because I had done it. I had run. I came within 59,000 votes in one state [Ohio].

“So for three hours I was president,” he said, apparently jokingly. “I feel like I made a few mistakes, but I didn’t blow it. The one thing I kick myself about back then is not listening to myself a few times... not letting it all out.

He continued, “You know, obviously, losing the presidency is not the option of first choice. But you can’t get lost in it.

“I said (to myself), ‘I am not going to make this the defining moment of a life of involvement in public service and caring about things.’ I was a senator and had a lot I was interested in. I have a great family, a great life, and I have nothing to complain about. So I went right back in and started kicking (it).”

Kerry, who was the go-between at the center of a failed peace effort between Israel and Palestine, said President Barack Obama has given him “enormous latitude" as secretary of state.

"I actually thanked him a couple of months ago," Kerry said. "I said, ‘You know, Mr. President, I want to thank you for giving me the breadth to take the ball and roll with it.’ ”

He also revealed that he still sometimes seeks out the advice of his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, on foreign policy issues.

“I telephone Hillary here and there and ask her for her thoughts about things,” Kerry said. “I have a lot of admiration and friendship for her.”

He added, “I really enjoy this job, it’s a great job. And I am excited. Look, we got the deal on chemical weapons [in Syria]; we’ve got Iran talking. We’ve got the Middle East people talking — we’ve made a lot of progress there, and I believe we’ll get back to talking. I am not finished.”

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Secretary of State John Kerry has ripped into the violent Islamic State extremists, calling them “really horrible” murderers who go on killing rampages without mercy.
Kerry, Bush, ISIS, Iraq
655
2014-27-02
Thursday, 02 October 2014 11:27 AM
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