Secretary of State John Kerry is in France to pay his respects to the victims of last week’s terrorist attack in an attempt to ease any lingering criticism over the Obama administration’s failure to send a high-profile U.S. figure to participate in Sunday’s solidarity march in Paris.
The morning after European authorities conducted raids in Belgium, France and Germany intended to break up terrorist networks and foil other impending plots, Kerry met with French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius before visiting the sites of the attacks.
France is still on edge after last week’s attack and police reportedly evacuated a major train station in the city after a bomb threat.
Kerry told reporters that he was coming “to share a big hug with Paris,” and made good on that promise by embracing Hollande in the courtyard of the presidential palace.
“I think you know that you have the full and heartfelt condolences of the American people, and I know you know that we share the pain and horror of everything you went through,” he said. “[T]he American people watch you and your team, and indeed all of the government lead with great elegance and grace this week, during this difficult time.”
“[W]e watched the people of France come together with a great sense of purpose and unity – it was a great lesson to the world, I think. And once again France, through it’s commitment to freedom and the passion of ideas, has made an important statement to the world.”
Hollande, in turn, said the French people were the victims of an “exceptional terrorist attack” and his government is resolved to “find the necessary response.”
The visit comes after harsh criticism earlier this week for the Obama administration’s failure to send a high profile representative to Sunday’s march of solidarity against terrorism, in which several world leaders participated.
The White House on Monday admitted it was a mistake and the State Department quickly announced Kerry’s plans to visit.
After his remarks, Kerry and Fabius laid a wreath at the kosher market, one of the two sites that had been attacked last week then headed to the memorial of those killed at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper where they laid another wreath down the street at a makeshift memorial.
Next Kerry, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to France Jane Hartley, placed flowers at a site where a Paris police officer was killed by one of the gunmen.
Kerry is planning to end the trip at an event at the Paris town hall, where he will speak and the crowd will hear a performance from American singer/songwriter James Taylor, a personal friend of Kerry’s who he invited along on the trip as a special gesture of goodwill from the U.S.
