Posted on 09/06/2004 10:09:59 AM PDT by yonif
CANONSBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has called the invasion of Iraq "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" and said his goal was to withdraw U.S. troops in his first White House term.
Under pressure from some Democrats to change the subject from national security -- regarded by many as President George W. Bush's strongest issue -- Kerry tried to focus exclusively on the economy and other domestic topics at a neighbourhood meeting but supporters raised Iraq.
The Massachusetts senator, who has said he would have voted to give Bush the authority to use force if necessary against Iraq even if he had known at the time that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, has struggled to draw clear contrasts with the president.
"I would not have done just one thing differently than the president on Iraq, I would have done everything differently than the president on Iraq," Kerry said on Monday.
He denied that he was "Monday morning quarterbacking."
"I said this from the beginning of the debate to the walk up to the war. I said, Mr. President don't rush to war, take the time to build a legitimate coalition and have a plan to win the peace."
Kerry said Bush had failed on all three counts. He called the president's talk about a coalition fighting alongside about 125,000 U.S. troops "the phoniest thing I've ever heard."
"You've about 500 troops here, 500 troops there and it's American troops that are 90 percent of the combat casualties and it's American taxpayers that are paying 90 percent of the cost of the war," he said. "It's the wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time."
GETTING OUT OF IRAQ
Kerry, like Bush, promised that the United States would stay the course in Iraq until the country is secure, saying: "We have to do what we need to do to get out and do it right."
He pledged to internationalise the forces in Iraq and do a better job of fighting "a more effective, smarter" war on terror that he said would actually make Americans safer.
Although he declined to set a precise timetable for pulling out U.S. troops, Kerry said it would be possible if certain conditions were met, such as bringing allies to the table to help with security and reconstruction.
He also said Washington should make it clear to the world that the United States had no "long-term designs to maintain bases and troops in Iraq.
"We want those troops home and my goal would be to try to get them home in my first term and I believe that can be done," he said.
If Kerry were to beat Bush in the November 2 presidential election, his first four-year term would end in January 2009.
Kicking off a Labour Day offensive in three crucial battleground states -- Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio -- Kerry focused on pocketbook issues as he tried to reinvigorate his campaign after new polls showed him trailing Bush by double digits.
On the front porch of Dale and Jody Rhome's house in Canonsburg, he assailed the president's economic policies and said if Americans wanted four more years of losing jobs and health care "then you ought to go vote for George Bush."
Kerry sounds like the "wrong" candidate. We are at war. This is no time to change Presidents.
Sen. Spitball continues to provide aid and comfort to the enemy.
I see Kerry's handlers had him drop the sensitive part. I guess it didn't play well in Poughkeepsie.
5.56mm
Looks like the Clinton trojan horses (Kerry's new "help") have started to "work".
Egads....this idiot lives and dies by the slogan. What a nonsensical statement.
Messing around with the UN for 7 months (while Saddam successfully hid his WMD) is "rushing?"
Of course, by saying he would have done EVERYTHING differently, he avoids having to come up with anything he would have done differently.
Talk about a flip flop.
So he was against the war, then for it...and now against it again?
"...it's American troops that are 90 percent of the combat casualties and it's American taxpayers that are paying 90 percent of the cost of the war," he said."
Is he describing Iraq or the UN?
The wrong candidate at the wrong place at the wrong time. Not that there is a right time for this candidate.
The headline should have been "Kerry promises to surrender in Iraq."
Well, at least he's finally taking a clear, coherent stand on the issue. He's dead wrong, of course, but he is providing voters with a choice.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!....Thanks! Got a spare keyboard and monitor I can have?...BWAHAHAHAHA!
FMCDH(BITS)
I got "Unfit For Command" on Friday -- it is devastating to Kerry. Well written and a definitive account of just who he is - the exact opposite of what he portrays himself to be. We cannot elect John Kerry. We should be trying him for treason.
Kerry has secured the "HATE AMERICA" vote.
Talk about encouraging the insurgents. 7 marines died in Iraq today. More talk like this from Kerry and it can be seven a day from now until the election. He is truly despicable. He is beyond loathsome. He betrayed his brothers in 'Nam. Now he's doing the same to our boys in Iraq. He's signing the death warrants for countless more of America's fighting men and women.
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