Kerry: Bush Should Push Allies to Help on Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040628/pl_nm/campaign_kerry_dc&cid=615&ncid=1473

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - The United States must make security in Iraq (news - web sites) the top priority there and should press allies to share the burden, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) said on Monday.

Speaking on the day sovereignty was returned to Iraq, Kerry also said America's allies and NATO (news - web sites) must provide concrete help to ensure that Iraq's security can be stabilized, U.S. troops can return home and to guarantee stability to the new government in Baghdad.


"As we look forward today, there are very important challenges so that we can finish our mission and get our troops home," Kerry said at an impromptu press conference on the tarmac at Baltimore-Washington airport. "We have to focus on the top-level priority of providing adequate security."


The Massachusetts senator said America has paid about 90 percent of the costs of the Iraq occupation to date and should not have to take the brunt of providing security there, noting, "NATO needs to recognize its responsibility here."

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[burrowowl]

1. Sigh

I will vote for Kerry, but really the U$ and UK got themselves into the mess with no permission from anybody.

[demoman123]

15. The Europeans told us not to do it. So now we want them to help us do it?

So they've agreed to offer some token assistance "training troops," which is more than we deserve.

I just wish Kerry would sound a little more different from Bush on the war.

[Larkspur]

2. Spain has already given Bush and Kerry the "finger" over Iraq

and Putin has done the same. Why should Europe pay for our mistake, a mistake that Kerry supports?

I hope our allies tell Kerry, as well as Bush, "Screw you, warmonger!" Let Kerry take out another mortgage on his mansion to pay for the Iraq Reconstruction. Kerry voted for war, let him and those who voted for it pay for the consequences.

[Rose Siding]

8. So do I!

No repub OR dem should strong arm or bully the rest of the world to clean up our mess.

The only 'enemy' we will find left to fight will be plopped right in btwn civilians. It's unwinnable.

Kerry is easier to take when he maintains his discreet pose as a cipher. Leave us guessing. The bad news will roll around soon enough.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. This illustrates what Kerry means by doing it "right"

that is, let the world community share the burden and pay for (whatever it is trying to be achieved in) Iraq.

[gula]

5. I sure hope the world community finds the guts

to tell them where to go

[Jacobin]

10. ahem

Isn't it a little late for that.

We threw this party in Iraq against their express wishes and dodged a vote in the U.N. to go there illegally.

Kerry, I'm convinced would not have done that.

However, getting NATO troops as new targets in Iraq will help no one and there is no evidence to support the proposition that Iraqis will welcome western troops from other countries. In fact there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

He forgot about Vietnam when he voted for the IWR.

Does he now forget about LBJ?

I think he has

[Sandpiper]

4. Why in the world does NATO

Have any responsibility in Iraq?

Bushco tried to convince the world that Iraq needed to be invaded. The world called our bluff, saw we had nothing, and decided to pass on joining hands and jumping off the cliff with us.

When you vote for going it alone, don't bitch about the "responsibilities" of the nations who said it was a bad idea from the start.

[Jacobin]

11. Well, we screwed it up so someone else has to pay the price!!

How's that?

Am I close??

:-)

[0007]

6. What's Kerry talking about? He can't be serious can he?

Or is Kerry just trying to get one up on junior?

[FattyMcCraigs]

7. a tough call

My sense of justice says you reap what you sow.

My sense of logic says that if we don't help it may cause the region to become an even more unstable breeding ground for terrorists, but if we do help we make ourselves targets for those same terrorists as supporters of the occupation.

My sense of compassion tells me that the only ones who really lose if we say no are the Iraqi people who are suffering, and will continue to suffer.

As a Canadian and a Socialist I lean more towards my sense of compassion, but can't ignore my sense of logic or justice. It's a very hard decision to make in my opinion.

This is exactly what the UN was created for, too bad Bush started throwing stones in a glass house.

[denverbill]

9. Whoever wins the election is still stuck with Bush's mess to clean up.

That is an unfortunate fact of life.

At this point, we have few choices.

We can pull out immediately and let whatever happens happen. Most likely, it would result in a civil war, if not a regional conflict. (Kurds versus Turkey and Iraq, Shiites trying to align with Iran, etc). Alternately, some heavy-handed dictator might be able to round up enough support to force a united Iraq, at a heavy price in lives. They might also end up as yet another Iran-type theocracy, deathly opposed to the US and Israel. Also a bad thing. It's also remotely possible they'd somehow come through peacably, with a moderate, stable govt, but the chances of that are remote at best.

The only alternative to that is to keep troops in Iraq for the foreseable future, and hope we get lucky.

This is looking more and more like Vietnam though. One President's little mess becomes the next President's big mess which becomes the next Presidents nightmare. Kennedy wanted to pull out but got assassinated. Johnson didn't want to be responsible for the US 'losing' so he kept up the fight. Nixon didn't want to be responsible for a US loss either, so he kept trying for 'peace with honor', and tried to beat the Communists into submitting to US demands.

Nobody wants to be painted as the President who lost the war.

[Jacobin]

12. Kerry does have the LBJ curse, doesn't he

We are sooooo fucked.

[NeoConsSuck]

13. As a fellow socialist...

my view is if you want to help, fine, help all you want.

Just keep your goddamn hands off the oil spigots. That oil belongs to the Iraqi citizens, not multinational corporations.

If Saddam had participated in the free market system, the capitalist governments wouldn't have given a flying you-know-what about his war crimes past.

[FlemingsGhost]

14. What allies, Senator? We went into this one alone, remember?

Good luck with that, by the way.

[hadrons]

16. partial political move

Kerry pushes Dumbya for more support and when Dumbya can't/won't deliever he looks weak ... if Kerry wins this will bite him on the ass

[wurzel]

17. They would gladly help USA. They just will not help BUSH.

There will be no help from anyone till GWB has gone! Meanwhile we will just have to accept what happens between now and then. If Bush was a real patriot he would do what the Republicans demanded Clinton do. He should resign. And a whole new administration installed in the WH. Even if it is Republican.

[dflprincess]

18. I wasn't aware we had any Allies left

besides England and those Moroccan monkeys.

[Voltaire99]

19. Kerry STILL doesn't get it.

Kerry's ersatz internationalism looks like an excuse for long-term occupation. It's just not a substantive contribution to call for more foreign help; nobody is impressed by that.

Kerry must face these realities, and swiftly:

1) Despite constant entreaties from the Chimp for aid, the rest of the world doesn't want to help occupy Iraq;
2) The Iraqis do not want to be occupied by the US, UK or any western power;
3) Iraq's political future is beyond our control; there is nothing we can, or should, do about it other than get out, ask forgiveness and pay for the damage already done.

Unless Kerry wises up, he stands the risk of a) failing to gain sufficient anti-war support in Novemeber; b) having Iraq dog his presidency as Nam dogged LBJ; and c) jeopardizing our national security further than he did when voting for this unwise and illegal war.

At present, Kerry's Iraq stance is utterly Bush-lite. Millions of us are looking for a sign that he can think better than Bush on Iraq. We're getting tired of waiting.