Kerry hits out at Bush over Iraq

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1131526,00.html
Kerry hits out at Bush over Iraq

Adam Blenford and agencies
Monday January 26, 2004

Senator John Kerry, the Vietnam veteran who is leading opinion polls ahead of tomorrow's crucial Democratic primary in New Hampshire, has sharply criticised the US president, George Bush, over his decision to invade Iraq.

Brushing off an attack by his Democratic rival Wesley Clark, the former general who claimed that Mr Kerry's "yes" vote in the Senate helped to hand the president a "blank cheque" for war in Iraq, the Massachusetts senator compared Iraq with the stalemate in Vietnam 30 years ago and called for an independent inquiry into the reasons America went to war.

On the campaign trail in New Hampshire yesterday Mr Kerry called recent US foreign policy "arrogant and inept".

Interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes programme, Mr Kerry said: "It's young people dying young for the wrong reasons, because leaders don't do the things that they should do to protect them.

"I believe this president breached faith. You truly should go to war as a matter of last resort. I'm afraid this president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace."
<snip>

In response(to Kay's there are no WMD statement), Mr Kerry told Fox News: "It confirms what I have said for a long period of time, that we were misled - misled not only in the intelligence, but misled in the way that the president took us to war. "I think there's been an enormous amount of exaggeration, stretching, deception." <snip>

[JoblessRecovery]

1. I'm glad to see Kerry facing the Iraq war issue and his IWR vote

head on.

"I voted for a process by which war would be the last resort. And those are the conditions that the president himself established. He said, 'I will build a coalition. We're going to use the United Nations, we will inspect, and I will go to war as a last resort.' He did not do any of those things. So yes, I believe we should have stood up to Saddam Hussein, I thought it was important for our nation's security. There was a right way to do it, and there was a wrong way to do it. The president chose the wrong way."

[hey2370]

2. Congress abdicates it's power to Bush

Kerry voted for that abdication. He obviously thought that it was a good idea for the Congress to give it's power to declare war to the President. So then George declared war. Now Kerry wants to criticize?

Look, John, you voted to give up the power over the decision. You look like a jackass when you then criticize the guy to whom you gave that power for exercizing it.

Same goes for Edwards.

[bearfan454]

3. He also voted to take my Consitutional Rights away

with his yes vote on the Patriot Act.

[llmart]

4. I really wish I could feel better

about Kerry than I do, though I will support him if he gets the nomination, but both he and Edwards didn't have the courage to stand up to this ugly administration and now they are both backpedalling.

[calimary]

9. Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm having that same problem.

I wish to hell I could feel more enthusiastic about Kerry. It just isn't in me yet. I don't know if it ever will be. And this isn't the only problem with his votes - he approved the Patriot Act - one of the many who just rubber-stamped it after 9/11 because bush railroaded them into it and they allowed themselves to fall for it, AND then there's the prescription drug fiasco. Kerry was against it, but then, when it came time to vote, his ass was nowhere near the Capitol - he'd run back out on the campaign trail, apparently assuming it was gonna lose anyway so why bother. WELL, I WANT SOMEONE WITH A LITTLE MORE SENSE OF COMMITMENT THAN THAT!!! He could have stayed and cast his vote anyway, to make a statement and to keep his voting record cleaner.

By the way, John Edwards did THE EXACT SAME THING.

And then, to add insult to injury, Kerry's the guy who said people who feel as I do about the stolen election should just stop crying in their tea cups and "get over it." Honey, I've got a million republi-CONS and other assorted knuckle-draggers who can tell me that. I don't need Kerry doing it, too. He's supposed to be on MY side.

I've just got some REAL problems and issues with John Kerry, and it's awfully hard to "get it up" for him. Awfully hard. In fact, these are such huge issues that I don't know that I CAN get over them, or find enthusiasm in my heart for him.

But, I can act...

edited for typo

[yourworstnightmare]

5. i would like to hear kerry elaborate on what he meant by...

..."...I believe we should have stood up to Saddam Hussein."

Sadaam, apparently, had no wmd's/no ties to al qaeda. does kerry mean there's a right way and a wrong way to get our oil from under iraq's land? i think so.

"last resort", to me, implies national defense. my understanding is that it is generally recognized by progresives that sadaam was not a threat to the u.s. yet kerry does not seem to be saying we should not have gone to war in iraq. he seems to be saying we should have done it differently, his exact position on afghanistan as well.

good cop, bad cop.

[Mandate My Ass]

7. Welcome to DU

Your first post is spot on! :hi:

[yourworstnightmare]

13. thank you, and allow me to add...

...i, and many millions of others, in the u.s. and around the world weren't misled by the "intelligence", why was he? clearly not a strong recommendation for the office of the president. and isn't kerry touted as the military/intelligence guy?

although in fairness, i heard him the other day list some of bush's crimes in regard to iraq, etc., followed by "...and we will hold him accountable." i like that idea, but i seriously question, in light of his other statements, if he really means it.

[calimary]

10. And the problem with that one is - bush can come right back and say we did

which worries me tremendously about Kerry. Many of his stump speeches and the things he says give bush an opening as wide as the the Pacific Ocean to march through.

I'm just getting - to borrow from Alice in Wonderland - worrieder and worrieder. I'll support John Kerry if I have to, and I'll do all the things that involves if I have to. But my heart won't be in it.

[cprise]

6. Dean sticks spurs in Kerry's hide... Kerry yelps at Bush

Keep on with those spurs!

[Bandit]

11. I got a chuckle from that.

I like Senator Kerry and will gladly vote for him. I also like Gov. Dean and will also gladly vote for him but it does seem like Dean does provoke most of the others into their anti-Bush* comments. They all realize that Dean didn't get to be as popular as he is by backing Bush* at every opportunity. They all vaguely realize there is an undercurrent of discontent out here and are trying to figure out how to tap it without seeming out in left field. They are all sooo out of touch. Senator Kerry is trying as hard as he ever has but we'll see if it is enough. Dean says all the right things but has a problem because he is so unpolished. Still a long ways to go because I'm sure NH won't settle it. I say go Kerry go Dean go Clark go Edwards go Dems.

[sendero]

8. I'm still trying to understand...

... how Kerry can run against a president he voted with on almost every single important issue. They will counter his criticism with "well he voted for it" and his weak denials won't sway many.

[Lugnut]

12. Agreed.

That was and still is my major issue with John Kerry. Shrub can throw it back at him given the opportunity to do so.