Kerry 1997: Warned Of Saddam Nuclear And Biological Capabilities

drudge report ^ | June 19, 2003 | Matt Drudge

[conservativecorner]

Kerry 2003: Bush Misled Americans On War; Kerry 1997: Warned Of Saddam Nuclear And Biological Capabilities

In New Hampshire yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said President Bush broke his promise to build an international coalition against Iraq's Saddam Hussein and then waged a war based on questionable intelligence.

But 5 years ago, Sen. Kerry seemed to warn of Saddam's nuclear and biological capabilities as he argued the U.S. must do what it has to do, with or without other nations!

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From the official congressional record: Warned Of Saddam Nuclear And Biological Capabilities:

"It is not possible to overstate the ominous implications for the Middle East if Saddam were to develop and successfully militarize and deploy potent biological weapons. We can all imagine the consequences. Extremely small quantities of several known biological weapons have the capability to exterminate the entire population of cities the size of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. These could be delivered by ballistic missile, but they also could be delivered by much more pedestrian means; aerosol applicators on commercial trucks easily could suffice. If Saddam were to develop and then deploy usable atomic weapons, the same holds true." (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255)

Use Of Force Against Saddam Justified To Prevent WMD Production:

'[Saddam Hussein] cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. This is not a matter about which there should be any debate whatsoever in the Security Council, or, certainly, in this Nation."(Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255)

Military Force Should Be Used Against Suspected WMD

"In my judgment, the Security Council should authorize a strong U.N. military response that will materially damage, if not totally destroy, as much as possible of the suspected infrastructure for developing and manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, as well as key military command and control nodes. Saddam Hussein should pay a grave price, in a currency that he understands and values, for his unacceptable behavior. This should not be a strike consisting only of a handful of cruise missiles hitting isolated targets primarily of presumed symbolic value." (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255)

U.S. May Have To Go It Alone To Stop Saddam:

"Were its willingness to serve in these respects to diminish or vanish because of the ability of Saddam to brandish these weapons, then the ability of the United Nations or remnants of the gulf war coalition, or even the United States acting alone, to confront and halt Iraqi aggression would be gravely damaged." (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255)

U.S. Must Do What It Has To Do, With Or Without Other Nations:

"[W]hile we should always seek to take significant international actions on a multilateral rather than a unilateral basis whenever that is possible, if in the final analysis we face what we truly believe to be a grave threat to the well-being of our Nation or the entire world and it cannot be removed peacefully, we must have the courage to do what we believe is right and wise." (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255)

END

[TomGuy]

John Kerry (2003): "Bite me! That's what my own words have come back to do--bite me."

[Southack]

That is a hillarious expose!

[johniegrad]

This guy is a joke. Great TV campaign commercial material here.

[South40]

The Fred Gwynne lookalike is a joke.

[arasina]

Is anyone surprised? I mean, it was 1997 and you-know-who was diddling around in the Oval Office. Kerry is a hypocrite. That's not new either.

[Bubba_Leroy]

That was entirely different. In 1997 a democRAT was president and the evil Republicans were out to get him. National security therefore justified the president bombing an aspirin factory to get reports of the president wanking off in the Oval Office sink off of the front page of the newspapers.

[xkaydet65]

This guy, in his own words, fell for a scam, and wasn't smart enough to do a Lexis Nexis search to see if he'd said anything that could be hurled back at him when he made his charge about Bush. It's not like he had to actually remember giving this speech. All he had to do was hit the search button. This is sure the guy I'd want for president. Kinda like being a Met fan and having Steve Phillips trade for players who had run out of minor league options and couldn't be sent down without losing them to other teams.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

bttt