Iraqi Prime Minister Ayah Allawi addresses a joint meeting of Congress in Washington, September 23, 2004. Vice President Dick Cheney (L) and Speaker of the House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) applaud in the background. REUTERS/Mannie Garcia
Posted on 09/23/2004 12:06:03 PM PDT by antifem
Kerry: Allawi's Take on Iraq Unrealistic
Thursday September 23, 2004 4:46 PM
AP Photo FLJC106
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Thursday that Iraq's Ayad Allawi was sent before Congress to put the ``best face'' on Bush administration policy.
Shortly after Allawi, the interim government's prime minister, gave a rosy portrayal of progress toward peace in Iraq, Kerry said the assessment contradicted reality on the ground.
``The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story,'' Kerry said.
Allawi told a joint meeting of Congress that democratic elections will take place in Iraq in January as scheduled, but Kerry said that was unrealistic.
``The United States and the Iraqis have retreated from whole areas of Iraq,'' Kerry told reporters outside a Columbus firehouse. ``There are no-go zones in Iraq today. You can't hold an election in a no-go zone.''
Kerry's remarks come one day after he told The Associated Press that President Bush's statement that a ``handful'' of people are willing to kill to stop progress in Iraq was a blunder that showed he was avoiding reality.
``George Bush let Osama bin Laden escape at Tora Bora,'' Kerry said in a brief interview Wednesday. ``George Bush retreated from Fallujah and other communities in Iraq which are now overrun with terrorists and threaten our troops. And George Bush said on the record we can't win the war on terror.
``And even today, he blundered again saying there are only a handful of terrorists in Iraq,'' Kerry said. ``I think he's living in a make believe world.''
Bush, campaigning in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, said: ``It's hard to help a country go from tyranny to elections to peace when there are a handful of people who are willing to kill in order to stop the process. And that's what you're seeing on the TV screens. You know, these people cannot beat us militarily.''
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday, ``It only took 19 people to take down the World Trade Center towers and kill 3,000 people.'' He said that in Iraq, ``you've seen how a small number of suicide bombers can have a dramatic effect.''
Bush said Wednesday the insurgents ``use the only tool at their disposal, which is beheadings and death, to try to shake our will. They understand the nature of America. ... We weep when we think about the families affected by those who have been brutalized by these terrorists.''
Kerry's voice was scratchy and breaking from a cold on Wednesday. He canceled most public events for Thursday in Columbus and in Iowa to rest his voice, though his words were clear at the firehouse. The campaign said running mate John Edwards would take Kerry's place in Iowa.
Kerry spoke to the AP in West Palm Beach, Fla., shortly before boarding a flight to Columbus and after Vice President Dick Cheney delivered a scathing attack on the Democrat. Speaking to reporters after meeting with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, Cheney argued that Kerry has a penchant for wavering that makes him a weak alternative to a ``steadfast leader, which is exactly what we have in President George W. Bush.''
``John Kerry gives every indication that his repeated efforts to cast and recast and redefine the war on terror and our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, of someone who lacks the resolve, the determination and the conviction to prevail in this conflict,'' Cheney said. ``He has demonstrated throughout the course of this campaign that he lacks the clarity of vision and purpose necessary to lead our country during extraordinary times.''
Kerry said he has laid out ``steps to win the war, not to change, not to retreat, steps to win. George Bush is trying to fight a phantom here because he won't tell the American people the truth, so he sets up something that's not a real issue and attacks it.''
Bush ``missed a huge opportunity'' at the United Nations this week to try to persuade leaders of other nations to join the United States in Iraq and the broader anti-terror war, Kerry said.
``I don't think he's providing the leadership we need,'' Kerry said. ``I will do a better job of dealing with Iraq and winning the war and fighting the war on terror, period.''
In a day filled with rhetorical charges and countercharges - at campaign stops and in advertising - all four candidates found fault. Responding to Cheney, Edwards said in a statement that Bush and Cheney ``are the last two people we need a lecture from about how to keep the American people safe.''
``It is the height of absurdity for Dick Cheney, a chief architect of the Iraq quagmire, to talk about the leadership needed to fix the mess in Iraq that he created,'' said Edwards, reviving a word - quagmire - often used to describe the Vietnam War.
Aaaaaahhhh I see. Now kerry knows more about Iraq than the Prime Minister.
Makes perfect sense to me.
I'd love to know what idiot advised him to speak out on this topic. What a fool.
In addition kerry should be tried for treason. He is once again giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
So now Kerry knows more about what's going on in Iraq, than the Prime Minister of Iraq? Sheesh...talk about arrogance. And this is the guy who lectures Bush about pushing about allies?
Imgaine, Kerry knows more about Iraq than Allawi
AP's take on Kerry's comments is charitable. He basically called Allawi a liar.
I wish they had taken Kerry on regarding his lie the other day that there was no connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
He obviously has not read the Senate Intelligence Committee Report or the 9/11 Commission Report, both of which cited the many connections between Iraq and AQ.
A high ranking Iraqi fedayeen soldier attended at least one pre planning 9/11 meeting with AQ.
Saddam knew 9/11 was coming and where we were going to be hit.
Even the Clinton Justice Department was able to obtain an indictment against OBL which cited the terrorist's ties to Iraq.
A federal judge has granted two 9/11 families a multi-million dollar judgement - against Iraq.
During the 90's, the mainstream press wrote about the world's alarm at the growing relationship between Saddam and Osama bin Laden. Old Media thinks we can't look these things up.
Hundreds of articles and links in this thread.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1224050/posts
Kerry admitted to war crimes.
What is he doing free?
Once again Kerry is denigrating our allies as a prelude to abandoning them. From Vietnam, to Nicaragua, to Iraq, betrayal is John Kerry's specialty..
Come on now. Give Kerry a break. He my never have been to Iraq, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
When asked whether this speech would help sustain the "Bush bounce," Kerry replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."
No, no--you must understand. This is a true act of DESPERATION! Being "anti-war" is the only tactic that has ever WORKED reliably for JFnKerry, and now that things have started to turn away from him, he is returning to his "core value system".
What he fails to realize is the fact that the tactic only worked during the "special period" in the USA that was Vietnam, and over time in the restricted political environment that is (liberal) Massachusetts, and is unlikely to be successful in todays USA.
He can't help himself!!!
This is the epitome of arrogant elitism...What an A. H. !
Not really sure who is directing Kerry on his insane path of self-destruction?? Could it be Bonnie and Clyde???
Regardless, this candidate and his party are off the left hand side of the scale. Everything negative, everything fatalistic, nothing is good, Bush and the world are wrong about everything -- ONLY KERRY AND LIBERAL DEMS ARE RIGHT FOR THE WORLD!!!
I hope the American public got a kisser full of this today. Kerry's speech, less than an hour after Bush and the Iraqi PM made one of the most historic and TRUTHFUL, REAL PRESENTATIONS ON IRAQ --- Kerry could not stand it -- especially when the liberal Dems in the Congress (joint session) applauded the PM!!!!
Total leftist insanity. Kerry should move to Cuba where his attitude and politics fit much better than in America.
Sen. Kerry, are you now citing information from the same CIA that supposedly provided inept intelligence data that President Bush used to mislead us into war?
Ladies and gentlemen, we may have another flip-flop here.
sKerry's frosted because Congress applauded Allawi and gave him a standing ovation,which puts sKerry out on the limb alone ready and waiting for the saw.
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