Posted on 09/26/2004 1:42:24 AM PDT by billorites
TWO WEEKS after John Kerry called the Iraq war “the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time,” and two days after Kerry said he would not have invaded Iraq had he known what we know now, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi spoke before a joint session of Congress, saying, “It’s my honor to come to Congress and to thank this nation and its people for making our cause your cause, our struggle your struggle. We are better off, you are better off and the world is better off without Saddam Hussein.”
After Allawi’s speech, Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart called Allawi a Bush puppet. “The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips,” he said.
Two days later, Kerry said, “The invasion of Iraq was a profound diversion from the battle against our greatest enemy — al-Qaida.”
Kerry speaks a great deal about the need to strengthen relationships with our allies. How does personally insulting the Prime Minister of Iraq and suggesting that his country should have been left to writhe under Saddam’s heel help in this regard? How does calling America’s allies “window dressing” and “a coalition of the coerced and the bribed” help?
Apparently Kerry believes an American leader should speak ill only of those allies who actually stick with the United States, and never of those who abandon us in time of need.
In the 1970s, Allawi was nearly hacked to pieces by thugs suspected of being Saddam’s agents. Since Saddam’s fall he has survived four assassination attempts. Every day he risks his life to make Iraq safe and free. One would think that Kerry would have the wisdom, or at least the class, to disagree with Allawi’s assessment of the situation in Iraq without dismissing the man as nothing more than a prop of the President’s.
Allawi painted a prettier picture of Iraq than many other Iraqis would have done. But as President Bush noted last week, polls of real Iraqis actually in Iraq show that they think the picture is rosier than the one Kerry is presenting.
The truth is, both sides are exaggerating for political effect. If Kerry is going to insist that America never should have replaced Hussein with Allawi, the least he could do is make his case without smearing an Iraqi patriot who has undertaken tremendous personal risk to try to secure democracy for his country.
After Allawi’s speech, Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart called Allawi a Bush puppet. “The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips,” he said.
Despicable statement.
Yeah, but who's hand is up his ass?
Exactly what I have come to expect from a former Clintonite.
Kerry should be ashamed of himself. He's still fighting the Vietnam War. That is what the anti-war activist thought of the South Vietnamese too! The thought of this traitor becoming president makes my stomach turn.
It was 4th grade playground level, through and through.
I wouldn't be surprised if Lockhart started snapping bra-straps......literally. I really wouldn't.
Democrats & Terrorists take the same stance on Allawi...Hmmm.
Great analogy!
Lockhart should know about puppets, hes got his hand up Kerrys butt now. They make me sick.
"How does calling America’s allies “window dressing” and “a coalition of the coerced and the bribed” help?
Apparently Kerry believes an American leader should speak ill only of those allies who actually stick with the United States, and never of those who abandon us in time of need."
What a stunning example of Kerry's more diplomatic ability to win friends and create more allies...What a nuanced and sensitive fellow is he../S
If there were even the tiniest shred of decency in Kerry or any of his "campaign advisers", Lockhart would be forcefully and publicly ejected from the campaign. But apparently, decency is less important than trying to score cheap shots.
John Kerry is acting true to form...he HATES this country, always has, and always will.
This flap over Alawi is a figure of the end game for both sides.
Kerry has read the polls and concluded he cannot win after the Swift Boat Veterans had stripped him naked and revealed him not to be a hero but an opportunist. Nothing he attempted predicated upon this false image would be accepted by the American people. Hence, Kerry has moved to new ground. If he is to be labeled as a anti war candidate, he might as well harvest the left wing support there and motivate the base.
In addition, Kerry knows he can count on the media to carry him as long as this election is Vietnam redux. So Kerry must paint Iraq as a quagmire and the press will amplify the message.
So, Kerry attacks Alawi as part of a hopeless cause. Bush counterattacks that Kerry is undermining the war. Thanks to the Swifties Bush can credibly make this argument without serious backlash.
As long as the debate is not whether Iraq is a quagmire but whether Kerry is undermining the war, or even whether Bush is unfair in the criticism, Kerry loses. This will be the pattern for the next six weeks with Kerry looking to break out of this stalemate before it is too late. Expect him to try something dramatic to make this case in the first debate which is the only debate about foreign policy. If Kerry cannot change the dynamic in the first debate, he has no other real opportunity and must pray for an intervening event, like Madrid, which will determine the election.
Look also for the press to try to bust Kerry out of this box, probably with the quagmire argument. They thought they had another prison scandal with the Guard duty business but that might have been their last chance.
And how is it Kerry expects do work with these people as president after he's called them all these ugly things???
Kerry is truly a bad man.
Five weeks and two days.
Then no more Kerry.
Clinton must be paying Lockhart really well; he's was in the middle of the forged memos, and now this.
I hope Bush makes a similar point in the debates so that the public latches on to this.
"Americans are inclined to see the world and foreign affairs in black and white. They celebrate their own form of government and denigrate all others, making them guilty of what he calls 'ethnocentric accommodation' -- everyone ought to be like us. As a result, America has committed the 'fatal error' of 'propagating democracy' and fallen prey to 'the siren's song of promoting human rights,' falsely assuming that our values and institutions are a good fit in the Third World. And, just as Americans exaggerate their own goodness, they exaggerate their enemies' badness. The Soviet Union wasn't nearly as imperialistic as American politicians warned. Seeing the Soviet Union as the aggressor in every instance, and the U.S. as only reacting defensively, relieves an American observer from the need to see any parallel between our use of military power in distant parts of the world, and the Soviet use of military power outside the Soviet Union. . . . Third world Marxist movements were autonomous national movements -- outside Moscow's orbit."
More on the John F. Kerry Timeline.
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