[169], Following the August 21, 2013, chemical weapons attack on the Ghouta suburbs of Damascus attributed to Syrian government forces, Kerry became a leading advocate for the use of military force against the Syrian government for what he called "a despot's brutal and flagrant use of chemical weapons. [110], A Washington Post report in May 2011 stated that Kerry "has emerged in the past few years as an important envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan during times of crisis," as he undertook another trip to the two countries. The comments below have not been moderated. The Kennedy family celebrated Joe Biden's presidential victory by performing a stadium wave on their Instagram stories, Grace Allen (left), the daughter of Kara Anne Kennedy, appeared second in the Instagram video, Kerry Kennedy (center), New York Gov. Their absence sparked rumors of a … April 4, 2020 | 3:01pm | Updated April 5, 2020 | 10:05am. "[130], During his bid to be elected president in 2004, Kerry frequently criticized President George W. Bush for starting the Iraq War. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS. [42] Kerry had agreed to an extension of his active duty obligation from December 1969 to August 1970 in order to perform Swift Boat duty. He is a brutal, murderous dictator; leading an oppressive regime he presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. [69][70], In January 1977, Droney promoted him to First Assistant District Attorney, essentially making Kerry his campaign and media surrogate because Droney was afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease). On September 16, 1991, however, North's convictions were overturned on appeal. He also said that from the context of the speech which, prior to the "stuck in Iraq" line, made several specific references to Bush and elements of his biography, that Kerry was referring to President Bush and not American troops in general. [45], With the continuing controversy that had surrounded the military service of George W. Bush since the 2000 Presidential election (when he was accused of having used his father's political influence to gain entrance to the Texas Air National Guard, thereby protecting himself from conscription into the United States Army, and possible service in the Vietnam War), John Kerry's contrasting status as a decorated Vietnam War veteran posed a problem for Bush's re-election campaign, which Republicans sought to counter by calling Kerry's war record into question. It also ran critical news stories about his out-of-state contributions and his "carpetbagging", because he had only moved into the district in April.