Secretary of State John Kerry said again Tuesday that there would be no American boots on the ground in Syria and that President Obama was not asking troops be "involved in the fighting of this civil war, period":
SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, if we -- if we said that there'd be no troops on the ground for combat purposes, that clearly would, I assume --
SEC. KERRY: Well, assuming that in the going to protect those weapons, whether or not they had to, you know, answer a shot in order to be secure -- I don't want to speak to that. The bottom line is this -- can I give you the bottom line?
SEN. MENENDEZ: We're going to have to -- we're going to have to -- we're going to have to work to -- (inaudible) --
SEC. KERRY: I'm absolutely confident, Mr. Chairman, that it is easy, not that complicated, to work out language that will satisfy the Congress and the American people that there's no door open here through which someone can march in ways that the Congress doesn't want it to while still protecting the national security interests of the country.
I'm confident that can be worked out.
SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, I --
SEC. KERRY: The bottom line is, the president has no intention and will not, and we do not want to, put American troops on the ground to fight this -- or be involved in the fighting of this civil war, period.