Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) excoriated Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday for praising Russia's role in trying to end the civil war in Syria and criticized the Obama administration as a whole for changing its long-held stance that embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power as part of any political transition.
Speaking on the Senate floor, McCain described Assad's human rights violations against his own people since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, including "barrel bombs, chemical weapons, slaughtering women and children," and argued the Syrian leader's actions are what allowed the Islamic State jihadist group to rise in the first place and "fuels them still."
"Secretary Kerry seems not to understand that fact," McCain said. "While in Moscow searching for ‘common ground’ on Russia with Syria and Ukraine, Secretary Kerry said, and I'm not making this up now, I'm telling my colleagues, I am not making this up, ‘Russia has been a significant contributor to the progress.’"
Arizona's senior senator rhetorically asked, "Was Russia making progress when it bombed U.S.-backed Syrian forces fighting the Assad regime? Or was that when it took a brief pause from bombing Syrian moderates to indiscriminately drop dumb [unguided] bombs in ISIL territory in Eastern Syria, killing untold numbers of civilians? Is that the significant Russian contributions?"
McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, then turned to the future of Assad, quoting Kerry from earlier this week when he said, "‘The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change [in Syria].’ The focus now is [quoting Kerry again] ‘not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad.’"
The chairman characterized Kerry's remarks as essentially telling the world, "Dear Mr. Assad, here's a blank check. Here's your card. Do whatever you want to ... Continue your barrel bombing. Continue your torture. Continue the war crimes that you have committed. You've only killed 250,000 of your own people ... drive some more into exile, and murder more."
McCain added that the Obama administration's position at the beginning of this year was Assad could not remain in power, "but now, as one [administration] official said, ‘the meaning of Assad has to go has evolved."
McCain's statement on the Senate floor comes one day after White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that Assad could maintain a powerful position in government if the Syrian people desire it, although he believes such an outcome is unlikely.
The Obama administration's new stance that Assad does not necessarily have to be removed from power during a political transition in Syria is a stark change from its long-held view dating back to 2011 that Assad must step down from power as part of any diplomatic process.
In October, the White House and State Department first changed their position and publicly showed a willingness to let Assad remain president in the short-term as a diplomatic outcome was being negotiated.
Washington's position changed as Russia steadily increased its military intervention into Syria, which began in late September, to ensure Assad stayed in power and maintained control over parts of Syrian territory.
Moscow has consistently said the Syrian people must decide their country's future without influence from foreign countries and that Assad is the best path to stability.