Kerry calls Iraq vote his greatest regret

Boston Glob ^ | 10/11/06 | Rick Klein, Globe Staff

[bitt]

WASHINGTON --Four years to the day after voting to authorize war in Iraq, Senator John F. Kerry today asserted that the vote is his greatest regret of his political career, and said all lawmakers who voted for the war should admit that it was a mistake.

"There's nothing -- nothing -- in my life in public service I regret more, nothing even close," Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote in a dispatch on the liberal blog HuffingtonPost.com. "We should all be willing to say: I was wrong, I should not have voted for the Iraq War Resolution."

snip......

Throughout his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry said that he would not have changed his vote to authorize force to topple Saddam Hussein. His struggles to articulate his position on the war epitomized his difficulty in communicating his campaign message.

Today's pronouncement marks Kerry's latest attempt to establish himself as a firmly anti-war senator as he prepares for another possible run for the White House. ..............

[bitt]

great one to hold onto!

[avacado]

"It is the duty of any president, in the final analysis, to defend this nation and dispel the security threat. Saddam Hussein has brought military action upon himself by refusing for 12 years to comply with the mandates of the United Nations. The brave and capable men and women of our armed forces and those who are with us will quickly, I know, remove him once and for all as a threat to his neighbors, to the world, and to his own people, and I support their doing so."

Senator John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts)
Statement on eve of military strikes against Iraq
March 17, 2003
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030331&s=lizza033103

----

"It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism. If so, the only exit strategy is victory, this is our common mission and the world's cause."

Senator John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts)
Statement on commencement of military strikes against Iraq
March 20, 2003
http://kerry.senate.gov/high/record.cfm?id=191582

----

"Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture, don't have the judgment to be President, or the credibility to be elected President.

No one can doubt or should doubt that we are safer -- and Iraq is better -- because Saddam Hussein is now behind bars."

Senator John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts)
Speech at Drake University in Iowa
December 16, 2003
http://www.jsonline.com/news/gen/dec03/193182.asp?format=print

[EQAndyBuzz]

"I don't know, somebody told me he was in the military, can anyone confirm this?"

There is a North Vietnamese General who would know that information. You might want to ask him.

[tsali]

"There is nothing I regret more"----- I'll bet he regrets going into Cambodia for Christmas more.

[pabianice]

[george76]

Kerry thinks that he can lie to all the people, all the time.

and that we have forgotten what he said earlier.

However, we are not that dumb.

[george76]

If The Bush Administration Lied About WMD, So Did These People

“So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real" - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

"I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force - if necessary - to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." -- John F. Kerry, Oct 2002

Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security." -- Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002

America is united in its determination to eliminate forever the threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction." -- John Edwards, Oct 10, 2002

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." - Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"I share the administration's goals in dealing with Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction." -- Dick Gephardt in September of 2002

"There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat... Yes, he has chemical and biological weapons. He's had those for a long time. -- Wesley Clark on September 26, 2002

"Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." - Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." - Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Saddam's goal ... is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed." -- Madeline Albright, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten time since 1983." - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb 18, 1998

"Iraq is not the only nation in the world to possess weapons of mass destruction, but it is the only nation with a leader who has used them against his own people." -- Tom Daschle in 1998

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." -- From a letter signed by Joe Lieberman, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara A. Milulski, Tom Daschle, & John Kerry among others on October 9, 1998

Baghdad's regime did use such weapons in the past. Today, a number of evidences may lead to think that, over the past four years, in the absence of international inspectors, this country has continued armament programs." -- Jacques Chirac, October 16, 2002

http://home.earthlink.net/~mmmhiggins/IRAQWMD.html#TOP

[george76]

If jfk runs in 2008, this should be a nice ad.

[CyberAnt]

Yeah, I've seen that transition. It's just that Kerry's too stupid and arrogant to realize it.

[Echo Talon]

sheesh, I hope he is doing ok...

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

Pass along best wishes to Tonk.

.......you left off the "colorful metaphors" before the word fraud when applied to kerry, if I know my old shipmate at all.

[PhilDragoo]

[Beagle8U]

I wish Carl Rove would turn some cranks on the RAT control machine that would make them start screaming for more gun control.
That has cost the RATS more votes than any single issue in the past 20 years. Taxes run a close 2nd.

Queer marriage would be costing them more votes if not for states putting that on the ballot and letting voters slap that down separately.

[incredulous joe]

John Francois Kerry; the gift that keeps on giving!

[JPJones]

"We should all be willing to say: I was wrong, I should not have voted for the Iraq War Resolution."

or how 'bout: "I lied"

[Pirate21]

""The president attacks the place that has no weapons of mass destruction and does nothing about the place that does," Kerry told reporters at a campaign stop for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jack Carter. "For five years, I have been calling for the United States to engage in direct talk with North Korea.

Here is an instance where the Flipper is sticking to a policy that flopped. 'For 5 yrs I have been calling for the US to maintain an ineffective policy.' Of course, he and his ilk are keen on back room deals.

[Barset]

Thanks for posting this, Syncro.

And thanks to Mr. Robinson for creating and maintaining Free Republic so men like Tonk, one of the great ones, can continue to serve his country on-line.

[Cate]

Oh for heaven sakes John... all the voters who voted for you feel the same way.

[groovejedi]

What a sKerry idiot!!!!

[Syncro]

Send it to Rath^er!

He will run with it I am sure. Oh and don't forget to have it Faxed to him from a Kinkos in Texas.