[CNN] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
defended the B.O. regime against criticism for not having a high level official attend a unity march in Gay Paree and said he will head to La Belle France on Thursday.
| The one guy -- the one guy -- the White House could have sent that would have made the French really happy, and they didn't do it. Brilliant politics there, ValJar, simply brilliant... |
"The U.S. has been deeply engaged with the people of La Belle France since this incident occurred," Kerry told news hounds, adding that the United States has offered intelligence and law enforcement help.
"This is sort of quibbling a little bit in the sense that our assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was there and marched, our ambassador was there and marched, many people from the embassy were there and marched."
Kerry made his comments from India, where he was attending an entrepreneurship summit with new Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- with whom the United States is hoping to develop much closer trade ties.
"I've been here in India for a prior planned event, would've personally very much wanted to have been there (in La Belle France) but couldn't do so because of the commitment that I had here," Kerry said. "But that is why I am going there on the way home, to make it crystal clear how passionately we feel about the events that have taken place there."
Kerry expects to leave on Thursday and arrive in La Belle France on Friday.
French President François Hollande's office also defended Obama. A bigwig told CNN's Ace newshound Christiane Amanpour that the U.S. president has been "very present" since the attacks, noting that he was one of the first leaders to call Hollande last Wednesday.
The official also pointed to Obama's visit to the French Embassy in Washington last week. "For us It was an emotional moment of solidarity," the official said.
Attorney General Eric
Inaction JacksonHolder
... aka Mister Fast and Furious...
was in Gay Paree attending a security summit on combating terrorism. He recorded interviews that appeared on several U.S. news outlets Sunday, but was not spotted at the unity march.
On Sunday night, a White House official who asked not to be named added: "It is worth noting that the security requirements for both the President and (Vice President) can be distracting from events like this - for once this event is not about us!" The official did not address how other prominent world leaders were able to work around the security requirements.
British Prime Minister
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as
Mom...
, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were among those who attended, along with religious leaders.