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."
And black pajamas...
Finally something Querry and I agree on; I wouldn't have bothered with the UN either.
Like it or not our economy, and that of the free world runs on imported oil (Japan, EU, etc)
johnny boy still has the same anti-war positions that he did back in 1971... until he changed it in 2002... then changed it back in 2003... then changed it back again in 2004... only to change it again 180 degrees in late 2004.
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.
Kerry is a coward. He has a PROVEN record of that!
No surprise here.
Kerry is in fast pace self destruct.
There's one angle to this I've never heard the Bushies raise.
Kerry said all of last year that he voted for the war because surrounding Saddam with troops would provide "leverage" to get him to relent.
For all of this year, Kerry's been hinting that he never would have used those troops.
So: how long would he have left our troops isolated in the desert, possibly causing problems for the host countries, equipment and morale deteriorating? Didn't Clinton do a force build-up in 1998 when Saddam kicked out the inspectors, only to withdraw them after Kofi Annan's declaration that he "could do business" with Saddam? I'm sure that troop withdrawal sent just the wrong messag of weakness to Osama and his ilk.
Somebody should ask Kerry how long he thinks a troop buildup in the desert can be sustained.
From what I can tell, 14 enduring bases are planned for Iraq. Source: here
Kerry: Pull Troops From Iraq in 4 Years
28 minutes ago
By MARY DALRYMPLE, Associated Press Writer
CANONSBURG, Pa. - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites), on a Labor Day tour of Midwestern states where polls show the presidential race virtually tied, told voters he would try to pull out troops in Iraq (news - web sites) within four years.
AP Photo
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Slideshow: John Kerry
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"We want those troops home, and my goal would be to try to get them home in my first term," Kerry said, speaking to a fellow Vietnam War veteran in the audience of his campaign event.
Faulting Bush on almost every aspect of his move toward war, Kerry said the United States is carrying the burden in casualties and cost. He called the president's coalition "the phoniest thing I ever heard."
"This president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace, and he's cost all of you $200 billion that could have gone to schools, could have gone to health care, could have gone to prescription drugs, could have gone to our Social Security (news - web sites)," he said.
"It's the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
Kerry was rolling through three battleground states this Labor Day. After meeting with supporters in Pennsylvania, he headed to a Labor Day celebration with mine workers in West Virginia and a final picnic in Ohio.
Armed with a pile of economic statistics, Kerry argued that jobs created during the Bush administration paid less and offered fewer benefits than the ones lost during that time.
"John Edwards (news - web sites) and I believe we can raise the standard of living in America again and raise the ability of Americans to make money," Kerry said.
Studies by such firms as Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Economy.com have shown that new jobs being created pay less than those created in previous economic recoveries.
About 1.7 million of the 2.6 million jobs lost since Bush took office have been replaced so far.
The Bush administration said the president's policies have helped create those jobs.
"John Kerry's pessimism and his calls for job-killing tax increases won't create a single job for American families," said spokesman Steve Schmidt. "His attacks once again are baseless and false."
The criticism of Kerry's tax policy is based on the Democrat's plan to roll back Bush's tax cuts on people earning $200,000 a year or more. The Bush campaign itself is vulnerable on the tax issue. Bush promised his tax cuts would create millions of new jobs, which hasn't happened.
Kerry's event was punctuated by about two dozen Bush supporters who interrupted on several occasions. Once, Kerry scolded them for "rudely shouting" while a 70-year-old woman, who had undergone several throat operations, was trying to ask a question about prescription drugs.
___
Kerry vows to cave-in to America's enemies upon taking office"
BingoTTT
"Remember his betrayal when you vote on November 2, 2004".
I remembered it through the $750.00 that I have already donated to the Swifties!!!
LLS
kerry had previously said he would have our troops home within "6 months"........now he says, "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.
Flip-Flop
I've been donating too....but your amount has got me beat!
Well, a lot of people here have talked about Kerry's V ietnam redux. Finally, here it is! Only thing left is to describe our brave soldiers' war crimes.
Didn't we learn anything from post-Vietnam?
From David Horowitz (FrontPageMagazine.com):
"The Democratic Party has nominated a man who indicted his whole country, including its highest officials as war criminals more than thirty years ago. The Democratic Party leadership has accused the President of "lying" to conduct a war that was unnecessary in order to line the pockets of his friends. Although neither Times mentions the fact (since they share the agendas of the marchers) the organizers of the protests in New York are the same anti-American, totalitarian-sympathizing radicals who organized the anti-Vietnam protests back then, and who willingly helped the Communists to power on the grounds that America was the greater evil.
"The result was the slaughter of two and half million people by the Communists in the first three years of the "peace." American "progressives" did not hold a single street march or protest of this genocide by their erstwhile allies. Having learned nothing in their political lives from the atrocities they sponsored, they are as self-righteous as ever. Now they are proposing the same solution -- American withdrawal -- for the war on terror in Iraq. If they are successful -- and electing Democrats is the surest way to make them successful -- there will be another bloodbath. This bloodbath will take place in Fallujah and Najaf, where the supporters of freedom will suffer a savage fate; but it will also take place in Washington and New York, where Islamic radicals will not make fine distinctions as to who were their enemies and who their progressive brothers and sisters."
Not always.:)
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