Why did Kerry oppose the first gulf war?

[Bombtrack]

I know it's probably been asked before. But I'd like to know the aproximate reasoning.

[soothsayer]

1. why did cheney? n/t

[kerryin2004]

2. thank you! n/t

[Cocoa]

3. Poppy didn't exhaust diplomatic means

[4_Legs_Good]

4. POWELL DID TOO!

Why isn't anyone bringing that up?

We went in earlier than we needed to.

david

[irancontra]

5. papi bush bated saddam by sending

april glaspie to tell Iraq that we didn't involve the US with "Arab/arab" conflicts. Saddam used this as a green light to invade. Bush then pulls a 180 and says Oh No, you can't have the oil.. thus the gulf war, chases saddam out with 500,000 troops, and establish a base in saudi arabia. Which in essence is the spawning ground for Bin Laden.

[Tatiana]

6. Kerry knew the issue could be resolved through diplomacy.

The neo-cons only used the Gulf War to get a base in Saudi Arabia.

[pllib]

7. more time for diplomacy

Kerry felt the conflict could be resolved peacefully.
For some reason, the Bush admin seemed gung-ho (at least Margaret Thatcher did) to the point that they had to cook intelligence.

The young Kuwaiti teen-ager who testified about witnessing babies being tossed out of incubators? The Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter - hadn't been in Kuwait. Physician and nurses in Kuwait (after the liberation) said it didn't happen.

The divisions massed on the Kuwaiti/Saudi border? Commercial satellite photos, available from a Russian satellite, showed no build-up.

Very possible diplomacy might have worked. Was our national security directly at stake? And was there no other option? That should be the test for use of force.

[funnymanpants]

8. Diplomacy would have worked

Iraq was illegally occupying Kuwait for mere months before we decided on a full-scale war. S. Africa had been occupying Namibia for years. And Israel had been illegelly occupying the territories for *over 23 years!*

War is almost always a very, very bad choice, and it was in this case. Before the first gulf war, Iraq lived in one of the most advanced countries in the region, on the verge of a first world health care system. No doubt, they also lived under a brutal dictatorship. But after the war and the brutal sanctions, Iraq was reduced to a third world country, with over 5,000 children dying a month. After the second war, the country is an absolute mess. There seems little chance of democracy, but a great chance of suffering and more tyranny.

It would have been smarter to undermind Saddam without war, by building up the middle class in his country rather than destorying it. Look at what two wars ahove done.

I doubt Kerry would articulate this, especially since I don't think he feels it. But probably like many people at the time, he wanted to avoid a war.Also, there is good evidence that the sanctions against Iraq were working, that Saddamn had guessed wrong about the US's reaction to the invasion, and that he was looking for a face-saving gesture.

[eridani]

9. Because it was unnecessary

It was necessary to move the troops to the borders to provide a credible threat, and that worked. Saddam quickly backed off of 'linkage' with Israel also getting out of the post 1967 territory, and had essentially told the Russians "Alright, already! I'm going!"

Somewhere online there must be the quote from Bush the First about how a negotiated withdrawal was his worst nightmare, but I can't find it.