John Kerry in France: ‘Tonight, We Are All Parisians'

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Paris on Monday to show American solidarity with France after last week's deadly terror attacks. 

"No one should doubt that light still shines in the City of Light," Kerry said outside the U.S. Embassy, vowing not to be intimidated by terrorists.

He called the attacks in the country and those earlier in Lebanon, Iraq and other places as "an assault on our collective sense of reason" and "civility itself."

But he said the conflict against ISIS militants was not a clash of civilizations.

"They rape and torture and pillage and call it the will of God," Kerry said. "They are in fact psychopathic monsters and there is nothing, nothing civilized about them."

Kerry landed in the French capital under unusual security precautions that precluded journalists accompanying with him from reporting his planned visit — believed to be the first such restriction for a secretary of state's travel to a European capital.

However, shortly before Kerry's plane touched down in Paris, French President Francois Hollande's office made public his schedule for Tuesday, which included a morning meeting with Kerry. There was no immediate U.S. response to the apparent breach.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry would meet and thank embassy staffers and hold talks with French officials.

Kirby also said Kerry will reiterate America's commitment to the strong U.S.-France relationship, express condolences to the victims of the attacks and reiterate the shared resolve to counter violent extremism in France and elsewhere.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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