Secretary of State John Kerry was at the LBJ Presidential Library in Texas Wednesday night talking with filmmaker Ken Burns about Vietnam as part of the Vietnam War Summit. Kerry summed up the evening’s conversation by reminding Americans that “if we forget, we cease to learn.”
Terrific discussion with @KenBurns at #VietnamWarSummit. As I said tonight: If we forget, we cease to learn. pic.twitter.com/xovhByRMzh
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 28, 2016
At the #VietnamWarSummit, @JohnKerry says we must always treat our returning veterans with dignity and honor. pic.twitter.com/8Die6x8I4V
— UT Austin (@UTAustin) April 28, 2016
We absolutely should treat our returning veterans with dignity and honor, even those who “randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside.”
Kerry doesn’t seem to have forgotten much of the past and almost prefers to spend his time there when not jetting from one climate change summit to the next. We have to wonder how much he’s learned from it, though, especially following his relentless push to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program.
While Kerry was celebrating the agreement back home, Iranians were celebrating with familiar chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Iran leader vows opposition to U.S. despite nuclear deal http://t.co/wNYdx2xHF6
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 18, 2015
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Even with #IranDeal, our policies toward US Arrogant system will see no change. US policies in the region differ through 180° from Iran’s.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 18, 2015
While Kerry also ridiculed presidential candidate Mitt Romney for learning everything he knows about Russia from watching “Rocky IV,” the lesson he apparently learned from the Cold War was that Vladimir Putin’s aggression could be countered with a #UnitedForUkraine hashtag campaign.
President Obama made it clear we are prepared to work with #Russia to help people of #Ukraine. There are many alternatives to invasion.
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 2, 2014
Not only did Putin roll his tanks right over President Obama’s red line; Russian fighters have recently been buzzing U.S. destroyers in the Baltic Sea.
Kerry: U.S. could have fired on Russian jets in Baltic Sea https://t.co/bfwaETXHoy pic.twitter.com/GHmxvydyHs
— UPI.com (@UPI) April 15, 2016
That wasn’t in “Rocky IV.”
John Kerry says #USNavy ship could have fired on #Russian jets. Yes, but I suspect the Russians knew we wouldn't. https://t.co/cR1EPCFm4S
— Eric Clay (@EricSClay) April 15, 2016
State Department spokesman John Kirby recently elicited laughter from the press corps by insisting that the United States had never ruled out putting boots on the ground in Syria.
State Department Furiously Denies Promising ‘No Boots on the Ground’ https://t.co/y7aYpepleB pic.twitter.com/kxiAJYqxTN
— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 25, 2016
Maybe he forgot about this?
#SecKerry on #Syria: Let me be clear — we are not asking America to go to war. We all agree there will be no American boots on the ground.
— Department of State (@StateDept) September 3, 2013
If we forget, we cease to learn.
.@JohnKerry If we forget, we cease to learn & tragedy of what happened in Vietnam has to be constant reminder of capacity to make mistakes.
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) April 28, 2016
@statedeptspox @JohnKerry And yet, your boss repeated a lot of those mistakes with Iraq. Weird, huh?
— MakeItHappen (@GrannySkywalker) April 28, 2016
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