(Bob) Kerrey says U.S. mustn't look weak in Iraq

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

Published Wednesday | May 23, 2007
Kerrey says U.S. mustn't look weak in Iraq
BY JAKE THOMPSON
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Raising a lonely voice in the Democratic Party, former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska says he strongly opposes any dramatic U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Such a retreat, Kerrey says, would hand radical Islamic terrorists a substantial victory and enable them to destroy the fledgling democracy in Iraq.


Withdrawing troops too soon would hand terrorists a victory, says Nebraska's former Sen. Bob Kerrey.

In an article published Tuesday and in an interview, Kerrey said terrorists would gain safe haven from which to launch further attacks on American citizens like those of Sept. 11, 2001.

Kerrey said that if the United States shows weakness in Iraq, it will "pay a terrible price."

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=2388827

[Roland99]

1. The US has looked weak in Iraq for 4 years now.

[silverojo]

38. You beat me to the punch

As a former Nebraskan, I have three words for Kerrey:

Fuck you, Bob.

[Solly Mack]

2. Weak is invading a country for lies. Weak is a government w/ a torture policy

Weak is denying people their civil rights. Weak is extraordinary rendition. Weak is indefinite detentions. Weak is ruling by fear.

If we want to talk weak there, Bob. It is Bob, right?

[MrSlayer]

3. Hmmm. Has Lieberman somehow taken over Kerrey's body?

Weird.

[LiberalFighter]

12. No... Kerrey doesn't need any help from Lieberman

[MrSlayer]

13. Obviously not.

I figured with him being a CMH winner and having been involved in a previous unnecessary war he might have a different outlook on this.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Confessed War Criminal Kerrey?

I really do not care much what he has to say. Sure Bob, lets commit a another few years of war crimes (a subject you are a personal authority on), so as to not 'look weak'. Brilliant. Now our soldiers will know the obvious: we are dying over there so that old men over here do not look weak. Got it. Fuck off.

[flyingfysh]

5. macho posturing is a policy?

I guess it is for this administration.

[BootinUp]

6. Are we sure he didn't mean to say this like 2 years ago?

Maybe he's been sleeping.

[acmavm]

7. Weak? He oughta know. He was powerless to prevent the news of what

he and his men did in Viet Nam so many years ago. He kept it hidden until he was about to be outed by someone that was there. Killed his political aspirations at the time. Had grandiose dreams of being pResident.

Sounds like he's running again, doesn't it?

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. And Maybe If We Slit More Throats Of Innocent Old Men

We could have prevailed in Vietnam.

Yes, I know it shouldn't shock me that Bob Kerrey is a lying, self-promoting neoliberal hawk, but at this point in time he should STFU, get a hotel room with LIEberman and leave us alone :grr:

[IndianaGreen]

29. PPI neoliberals are the flip side of the PNAC neocon coin

They will both use our troops as paid mercenaries to protect and expand corporate interests across the world.

[Tesha]

9. And that's why we've suspended the entire war to look for three soldiers...

> (Bob) Kerrey says U.S. mustn't look weak in Iraq

And that's why we've suspended the entire war to look
for three soldiers.

*THAT* certainly makes us look tough, ehh?

No, it makes us look like complete wusses. Real warriors
(read: warriors cast in the radical militant mold of our
enemies, the standard to which they doubtless compare us)
wouldn't even have blinked at the loss/capture of a
measly three soldiers.

And by suspending our war over this pin-prick, we've
proven just how vulnerable we are. Not unlike the
national wave of complete and total insanity that swept
over us after the pinprick of the 9-11 attacks.

Tesha

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[brentspeak]

14. Kerrey lives in New York City now. He's a New Yorker.

He's not talking to people in Nebraska. Where are you getting the information that the majority of Nebraskans wants to hear what Kerrey has to say on the subject of Iraq?

[kurth]

11. Bob Who?

[deutsey]

16. You know, the war criminal who also helped "market" the invasion of Iraq

:evilfrown:

[brentspeak]

17. He's not a "war criminal". But he is a 100% idiot on the Iraq issue.

[endarkenment]

19. Actually he is. He admitted to committing war crimes.

For example:

http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine.html

Just google: Kerrey war crime

[deutsey]

20. The uncovering and reburial of a war crime...FAIR

http://www.fair.org/extra/0108/kerrey.html

[quiet.american]

23. And don't forget he's the one who invited John McCain to be graduation speaker at NYC New School

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jan-clausen/the-new-school-commenceme_b_21606.html

Between mid-April and mid-May, over a thousand members of the New School community signed our petition. The University Student Senate wrote a letter calling on Kerrey to rescind the invitation. The president of OPEN, the university's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender group, explained how it hurt the school's queer community to be asked to join in honoring a politician who has supported a range of homophobic legislation. Whatever their individual views of the issues, the vast majority of petition signers shared a sense that McCain's reputation as "maverick" and "moderate" belies his actual record as an unequivocal reactionary on crucial domestic and foreign policy matters. Surely commencement--by tradition a celebration of the graduates and a ceremonial reaffirmation of the institution's core identity--was not the time to offer a platform to any politician in full campaign mode, let alone one of McCain's stripe.

All that said, we never objected to giving Senator McCain a hearing at the New School. Our petition affirmed the university's responsibility to offer a forum for all views in contexts that allow free debate. But we definitely resisted being cast as mute extras in a McCain campaign commercial.

Given the political agenda framing McCain's string of commencement appearances, it's disingenuous for President Kerrey to write "I believed our students would benefit from hearing his message." The actual speech was, predictably, so lacking in analytic rigor that it would have gotten poor marks from any composition teacher for its weak argumentation, though not its rhetoric. McCain wrapped a hard little nugget of violent nationalism (support for the war in Iraq because U.S. "interests and values required it") in yards of fluffy platitudes that obscure the ugly reality of an invasion based on lies, greed, and disregard for the basic humanity of ordinary Iraqis. Many in the audience remembered that Kerrey was himself a cheerleader for this conflict, having served with Senator McCain on the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq in the fall of 2002--the first college semester for most students now graduating with B.A. degrees.

President Kerrey answers the criticism that his unilateral selection of McCain was undemocratic by saying that longstanding university policy allows the president to choose the commencement speaker. That may be true, but it casts a harsh light on the state of governance in our legendarily progressive institution. The fact that despotism tends to go unchallenged so long as it remains more or less benevolent is not an argument in favor of one-man rule. Concerned about abuse of the presidential prerogative, the University Senate took up this issue in early May, voting unanimously to alter the procedure. From now on, the president's choice of a speaker will have to be approved by the faculty committee that recommends candidates for honorary degrees.

[ShortnFiery]

15. With all the $$$ Kerrey has personally invested in The Military Industrial Complex,

Why are we surprised? We need to dig deep and find out HOW MANY *active* (serving now) Democratic Representatives have big bucks invested in stocks that comprises The Military Industrial Complex. :wow: :grr:

[Jacobin]

18. Uhm, don't look now Bob, but that's already happened

And 'weak' isn't the half of it. "Stupid" is the by word.

[Liberal Veteran]

21. Hmm....let's see. Invading a country with barely any defenses and

had been living under the rule of a dictator for the better part of 30 years and over 4 years later we still don't have a handle on the violence or stabilized the country.

I can't imagine how we could look any weaker now.

[irislake]

22. Not look weak?

Oh my God what an idiot. This whole Iraqi invasion has been a stunning demonstration to me and to people in countries all over the world of just how little power America really has. Your military is poorly paid, poorly equipped. You have stripped your own country of the National Guard necessary for emergencies at home. For new recruits you are scarping the bottom of the barrel. You are re-cycling troops that are in no shape for further combat. You don't have the money for your own infra-structure. Imagine how shocked we all were about Katrina. Your pitifully pathetic pretzeldent would be the laughing stock of the world were it possible to laugh about 650,000 dead Iraqis and more than 3,000 dead American troops. And the Democrats and the American people appear to be completely impotent to get that idiot out of the driver's seat! Your free American press is a farce. The country is up to its eyeballs in debt to China and Japan? A superpower? I don't think so. Jealous of your "freedom"? Ditto. The future for the U.S. does not look bright! Very scary and very sad.

[BootinUp]

25. A comedian I like - Lewis Black

Does a routine where he ridicules our habit of proclaiming we are the greatest nation to all the rest of the world, despite growing evidence of far less greatness. Its hilarious and sadly true too.

[CTLawGuy]

24. no one cares what you think

Bob....

[anotherdrew]

26. too late bob n/t

[enki23]

27. we're the most powerful political and military force in the history of the world.

no one is arguing that the united states of america is "weak." we are only arguing that we are not omnipotent. this isn't a problem of "strength." instead, the problem is there are things that strength just can't accomplish.

in other (trite, groan-worthy, etc.) words: we have, in fact, made iraq so heavy we can not lift it.

[IndianaGreen]

28. Kerrey's SEAL team did their share of spreading freedom and democracy

in Vietnam. Just ask the victims!

[AX10]

36. Bob Kerrey has a very colorful past.

Not the kind of man that would ever rock the boat. He's too invested in the establishment to do so.

[saigon68]

37. Yes they did

And they used a lot of RACIAL EPITHETS while doing it

[NewYorkerfromMass]

30. Mission: IMPOSSIBLE

Trying to replace Saddam with a democracy was their first mistake.
We have set ourselves up for failure.

[frylock]

31. i suppose getting your ass kicked on a daily basis isn't a sign of weakness..

what a maroon.

[Kolesar]

32. Kids will keep dying just so that bush does not "lose face". Sorry Bob, that's too much to ask

[Generator]

33. I have had it!

Mr. Bob Kerry/9/11 commission. Complicit, complicit, complicit. Are Du'ers finally realizing it's not JUST the Republicans fault?

[flaminbats]

34. I disagree with Kerrey on this one!

In the interview, Kerrey also had a message for fellow Democrats: "Just because George Bush said it doesn't mean it's wrong."

no..because Bush doesn't want to pay for it, and doesn't have the political courage needed to be connected with the tax increases necessary to fund the war..it is wrong.

democracy can't be imposed, if it is imposed..it isn't democracy! democracy worked in Germany and Japan..not because it was imposed, but because of the Marshall plan and because those countries were almost destroyed completely by right-wing dictators!

Kerrey says if we show weakness in Iraq, there will be a terrible price. I actually agree, and because we have already shown weakness in Iraq..we are now paying the price. now we must get out, the sooner the better! but I would still love to see Kerrey run for the Senate in 2008. :woohoo:

[MisterP]

35. ugh, put the rock back over him