Protesters heckled Secretary of State John Kerry’s Senate testimony for the Authorization of Use of Military Force on Wednesday. Secretary Kerry responded sternly.
The first protester was carrying a Code Pink banner that caricatured the AUMF abbreviation as standing for “Another Useless Military Fiasco.” He shouted, “The American people are speaking out, Mr. Secretary! We’re tired of an endless war!”
As he was escorted from the hearing room, the protester yelled that the war against ISIS was “creating more terrorism” and “killing more innocent people.”
Kerry responded to the latter taunt, saying “I wonder how our journalists who were beheaded, and the pilot who was fighting for freedom who was burned alive, what they would have to say to their efforts to protect innocent people.”
The pilot he referred to was Jordanian officer Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, who was captured by the Islamic State after his fighter went down near their capital city, locked in a cage, doused with gasoline, and set ablaze in a horrifying viral video. The beheaded journalists include Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
NBC News also reports that a second protester shouted, “The United States is killing innocent civilians with drones!”
For the record, the Code Pink protester is incorrect about what “the American people” are saying: polls consistently show strong support for military action against ISIS, including majority support for the use of ground troops.
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