The Man is a Loner and a Condesceder.
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."
You said the exact write thing regarding Spitball's ideas. I especially think he enboldens terrorists when he talks as well.
The Man is a Loner and a Condesceder.
It sounds as if Kerry is going to support our troops as well as he did in the 70's. Protesters such as Kerry cost thousands of lives of our troops by giving hope to the enemy. The Viet Cong admitted after the war that they were on the verge of surrender. But hope was provided by traitors like Kerry who are responsible for thousands of American lives and for the enslavement of the people of South Vietnam.
Kerry's rhetoric now gives hope to the terrorists killing our soldiers in Iraq. The terrorists think "if I can just keep fighting until 2005, Bush will be gone and Kerry will President." How many of our soldiers must die so that Kerry can score desperate cheap political points.
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Kerry betrayed all Vietnam Veterans by his false testimony in the Senate (1971) calling them 'war criminals', rapists & baby killers.
His words were used by the Viet Cong to torture American POWs to force them to sign confessions for acts they did not commit.
Kerry betrayed all Americans fighting in Vietnam.
Kerry is the:
Kerry is UNFIT FOR COMMAND!
Remember his betrayal when you vote on November 2, 2004.
I thought the deal was that IRAQ decided when we would leave. Isn't Kerry just shooting the breeze here, making promises he cannot/should not keep?
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