Posted on 04/07/2004 12:14:33 AM PDT by Stultis
According the following Reuters report...
Kerry Says June 30 Iraq Handover Date a 'Mistake'
...John Kerry told reporters on Monday:
"I have always said consistently that it is a mistake to set an arbitrary date and I hope that the date has nothing to do with the election here in the United States."
Well, not quite. Before the date was agreed on Kerry was not only pestering Bush to speed up the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq (to please and appease the Axis of Weasels and the U.N.) he even called for a "specific timetable" (albeit to be established by a U.N. resolution).
Only after the date was set did Kerry begin to complain about an "arbitrary" date, having gone through an intermediate stage when he tried to have it both ways: complaining about how the transfer had to happen A.S.A.P., but only after some unspecified standard of security and stability had been established.
Here's the evolution:
Remarks by Senator John Kerry: Winning the Peace in Iraq
September 30, 2003 (before transfer date agreed on)
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2003_0930a.html
If the Bush Administration fails to internationalize the effort in Iraq, the American people could see a succession of endless costs down the road. And as we consider the Presidents request [the $87 billion supplemental], we must make every effort to ensure the necessary steps both to bring other nations and the United Nations into this operation in a meaningful way and to accelerate the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The responsibility lies with the President. The Senate can only do so much. But we have a responsibility to do all that we can. [...snip...]
First, we need a new Security Council resolution to give the United Nations authority in the rebuilding of Iraq and the development of its new Constitution and government including the absorbing of the Coalition Provisional Authority. [...snip...]
Second, we need a new UN Security Council resolution authorizing a multi-national force under US command [...snip...]
Third, the resolution must include a reasonable plan and a specific timetable for self-government for transferring political power and the responsibility for reconstruction to the people of Iraq. [...snip...]
Fourth, the Administration must accelerate efforts to train and equip Iraqi security forces border, police, military, and civil defense
Q & A with John Kerry at the Council on Foreign Relations
December 03, 2003 (a couple weeks after the June 30 date was set)
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2003_1203a.html
In fact, I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election.I have called for the administration to transfer sovereignty, and they must transfer it to the Iraqi people as quickly as circumstances permit. But it would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists. Security and political stability cannot be divorced. Security must come first, and that is why it is so imperative to succeed in building a genuine coalition on the ground in Iraq.
Finally, according to the current Reuters story, Kerry is now specifically referring to the June 30 date as a "mistake," while still implying that the date is designed to help Bush win reelection (he fatuously "hopes" that isn't the reason) and still seditiously trying to create fear and despair among pro-democracy forces in Iraq by falsely associating the transfer of sovereignty with a pull out of American troops.
Once again...
"we must make every effort to ... accelerate the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people"
~~~John Kerry 9/30/03
"[We must have a U.N. resolution with] a specific timetable for self-government for transferring political power ... to the people of Iraq."
~~~John Kerry 9/30/03
"I have called for the administration to transfer sovereignty, and they must transfer it to the Iraqi people as quickly as circumstances permit."
~~~John Kerry 12/03/03
"I have always said consistently that it is a mistake to set an arbitrary date..."
~~~John Kerry 4/05/04
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I love it when libs, like Molly Ivins and others, paint Bush as a flip-flopper for changing is mind on certain issues or policies. There is a large difference between changing your mind and doing what Kerry does. Everyone changes their positions as facts and situations dictate. But Kerry wants it both ways. He is unwilling to take responsibility for any decision he makes and furthermore criticizes Bush for decisions that both he and Kerry agreed on and Kerry voted for. Kerry and libs are all stinking hypocrites.
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