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."
Isn't that joint the point?
Did he miss it?
Isn't Bush planning to get us out of Iraq soon? Anyhow George P. Bush was just down in Mexico telling them that we're pulling out soon from Iraq.
"slaughter of two and a half million people"
This can't be correct! Kerry said so!
Before the Fulbright Committee Kerry said no more than 2,000 to 3,000 would be killed. On the Dick Cavett Show in 1971, he upped the death toll to 4,000 or 5,000.
This is truly a man of VISION!
some one should tell kerry to stop digging
':" Talk about a flip flop.
So he was against the war, then for it...and now against it again?
That's why it isn't a flip flop. It's a flip flop flip flop flip flop flip flop.'
Judy Woodruff said the delegates were chanting "Tic Toc" when giving her expert opinion on the President's acceptance speech the other night. She dismissed it as if it wasn't relevant. I'm not kidding. David, don't forget me, I'm a liberal too, Gergen finally filled the liberal loving Woodruff in my mentioning that he believed they were saying flip flop. Is Judy Woodruff that out of touch as a long time beltway insider?
This is a misleading headline. Kerry says he'll pull out when it's safe to do so--which really says nothing at all. He also says that Bush did everything wrong but once again fails to say what he would have done instead.
Kerry waffles because he has to please the peaceniks and those who want strong national security at the same time. He is torn between two constituencies and can't afford to lose either of them.
The headline is directed at the peaceniks.
I heard Woodruff say that too! LOL. I couldn't believe she didn't "get" it. What in the world would have been the significance of the crowd chanting "Tick Tock Tick Tock"? Oh well...
John Kerry always believes HE knows better...has a better plan...would do things better. Take most of Kerry's testimony...or speeches regarding Vietnam...Replace "communism" with "terrorism" and "Vietnam" with "Iraq." Kerry IS trying to re-fight Vietnam, only this time it's in the deserts of Iraq. Someone should really check to see if he DID resign from the VVAW. From his most recent declaration, it sounds like he's still running it! But...wait....here was Kerry...before he was against the war:
KERRY: "And I think we’ve all reached a judgment that obviously the United States has to protect our national security interests. And we have to do what we think is right." (Fox News’ "The O’Reilly Factor," 5/22/02)
KERRY: "I would disagree with John McCain that it’s the actual weapons of mass destruction he may use against us, it’s what he may do in another invasion of Kuwait or in a miscalculation about the Kurds or a miscalculation about Iran or particularly Israel. Those are the things that - that I think present the greatest danger. He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat." (CBS’ "Face The Nation," 9/15/02)
KERRY: "But the president, as I also wrote in that article, always reserves the right to act unilaterally protect [sic] the interests of our country." (MSNBC’s "Hardball," 9/17/02)
KERRY: "George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him." (ABC News Democrat Presidential Candidates Debate, Columbia, SC, 5/3/03)
WHICH John Kerry is speaking? WHO is listening, and WHY would they believe him?
He said Kerry wants to pull the troops out of Iraq in six months and is complaining that Bush wanting to pull the troops out of Germany after 60 years is too soon.
Kerry has lost anything he had left.
He is talking about how all the 200 billion we spent on this war could have gone to social programs.
It's like somehow he things that stopping our spending and efforts will lead to the ending of this war.
He's in a dream world. This is beyond bad, Senator Spitball is inept!
If this is the new campaign, it's Bush by 25 points.
To Kerry, all war is wrong. He's a pacifist, a communist and an appeaser. Oh, and he's a freakin' coward to boot.
"the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time"
He's using an old quote from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Omar Bradley about the Korea war
That's his stand this week. Don't blink your eyes.
Good observation...
Kerry seems to be saying that England, Poland, Italy, Australia, etc are not making a contribution.
He wanted international participation-whats he saying? Is this the wrong kind of international participation?
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