Posted on 11/19/2005 5:57:13 PM PST by Former Military Chick
Nov. 19, 2005 - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., believes U.S. troops do not necessarily need to be pulled out of Iraq right away, as a senior Democrat suggested this week, but they need more leadership from the Bush administration.
"What we need is a little more commander-in-chief, and a little less campaigner-in-chief," Kerry said in an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition."
The question of whether or not troops should be withdrawn from Iraq moved to the front burner Thursday when Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., called for all the troops to be withdrawn immediately -- a call that drew charges of recklessness from the Bush administration. Vice President Dick Cheney called Murtha's press conference "reprehensible."
Members of the House of Representatives debated late into Friday night and voted down a resolution to pull the troops out of Iraq by 403-3. Although most Democrats did not support Murtha's call, Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential election to Bush, said Murtha did not deserve to be called names like "coward" by allies of the administration.
"It's just the attack politics: The people are sick and tired of it," Kerry said. "You don't call John Murtha a coward. I mean, Dick Cheney had five deferments in a row in Vietnam, when John Murtha went to serve."
Murtha, Kerry said, has simply added to the debate. Kerry said the Bush administration needs to outline a clear plan about what benchmarks must be reached in order to bring the troops home.
"You can differ on the policies, and we should talk about the policy," Kerry said. "The administration has continuously misled Americans about our presence. We need to have the debate and figure out how we bring our troops home in a responsible way. John Murtha is really just adding to the debate in a very personal way. This man's statements have to be taken seriously even if you don't agree with his policy."
Kerry said the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, sent a plan to the Pentagon that outlined a timetable for withdrawal. The president of Iraq also said he had a plan to bring home 50,000 troops by Christmas. Kerry said that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also had originally said some troops would be brought home.
Kerry added that the Bush administration was wrong to suggest that calling for a plan to bring the troops home will endanger the troops.
"Let me tell you what is endangering our troops: Sending our troops to war without adequate armor endangers our troops," Kerry said, "not guarding the ammo dumps, so that our troops are now being hurt because of ammo that wasn't properly secured when we took Baghdad. What endangers our troops is sending them to war without adequate numbers of troops to do the job."
Kerry said he has a plan to bring 20,000 troops home by Christmas. He said that if the election and referendum in Iraq are successful, troops should be brought home because the election would act as a benchmark of the troops' success.
"They deserve leadership that is equal to their sacrifice," he said. "The president doesn't have a real plan."
Although he may have sounded as if he were campaigning, Kerry said he's leaving the door open when it comes to running for president in 2008.
He said the more immediate question is how the troops will be protected. It's time, he said, to hand over some responsibility.
"Let Iraqis stand up for Iraq," Kerry said.
I sooo hope he runs again. First, the comdey. Second, my second son, an 18-years old, really wants the opportunity to vote against this aging hippie.
Life was better when JF'nK wasn't showing up for work in the Senate.
We now have the fulcrum to move the mountain of history. The lever is the truth.
John Kerry called for the US to "let the South Vietnamese stand up for South Vietnam" over 30 years ago. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese died and millions more were enslaved. Millions of others in the rest of Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, died in the Communist "reeducation camps" of Kerry's beloved Khmer Rouge (who he says he ran guns to on his secret missions to Cambodia, remember).
Now he wants us to repeat the same cowardly policy in the Middle East. This traitor has to go.
Iraq IS exactly like Vietnam. We have won the military battles and will only "lose" now if traitors in our own country are able to force us to abandon those we have come to help by "pulling a Kerry."
LOL, I so bet he won't get the nomination this time.
Of course, the dems have outdone their own stupidity time and time again!
I'm getting tired of this guy. (Long string of expletives deleted.)
Kerry's idea of leadership was forged on the desperate struggle he prosecuted in the Swift Boats! This allows him some "oneupsmanship" , a " leg up" to tell President Bush how to lead.
Dear Senator Kerry,
You are no leader. You led from the rear and filed for bogus Purple Hearts hastening your early exit from a theater of combat in Vietnam, without thought for your crew, only for yourself.
Senator Kerry, you are playing to a captive audience, those who can't avoid listening to you, and those who somehow have rationalized your treasonous post Vietnam War conduct at home, after your return as an erstwhile conquering hero, throwing your medals over a Whitehouse fence ( as if anyone cared), and later committing treason by meeting sub rosa with the Republic of North Vietnam's communist delegation at the Paris Peace Talks.
So who are you, a cut and run Democrat, to even think for a moment that YOU can give instruction to the bona fide, patriotic, leader of our nation, something you can never be. Just go home and Kiss some Ketchup. Enough already!!!
Frankly, he makes Kerry a zero in the big scope of things. Of course Bush needs to continue to talk with us and remain stern and direct ... I have hope ...
And here I've been holding my breath for his opinion...ahhhhhhhhh....
Kerry is such a political bonehead. Do you think more shots of Bush among the troops is going to help the Democrats? And old purple heart just called for it. Clueless...just another one of his plans.
Rove was wrong. The president will never get re-elected at this rate.
Wait a minute........the president is not campaigning for re-election. Kerry IS seeking the rat nomination.
Same old tired cliche, different year.
Can someone post Kerry in his blue bunny suit. That's my favorite.
"Calls for Bush to Show More Leadership for Troops"
I dare not say what I think of that statement.
DumbA$$ - read this, look at the photos and get sugar mama to but you the video. It is of a REAL leader and REAL men that respect and admire him! &*$%#*))*^%$#%&*$@!$%&*$#@
Kerry...what a waste of protoplasm.
The humiliating defeat of the USA.
Is Major Owens the turd of shark fame?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.