By Tribune-Review

Published: Friday, January 11, 2013, 7:40 p.m.
Updated: Friday, January 11, 2013

Sen. John Kerry once held up Syria as a country that could bring peace and stability to the Mideast and predicted that the now-disgraced government of President Bashar Assad would pursue a legitimate relationship with the United States. Those assertions are certain to draw scrutiny at Kerry's confirmation hearing to be secretary of State.

Conservative websites have mocked the relationship as a Kerry-Assad “bromance.”

Kerry summed up the uncertainty in the region when he said in a speech on March 16, 2011, that the “modern Middle East has long confounded American foreign-policy makers.”

Of Assad, Kerry said that he had been “very generous with me in terms of the discussions we have had. And when I last went to — the last several trips to Syria — I asked President Assad to do certain things to build the relationship with the United States.”

Kerry ticked off six requests for Assad, and said the Syrian president fulfilled all of them.

“So my judgment is Syria will move; Syria will change, as it embraces a legitimate relationship with the United States and the West.” — AP

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