it would have been the Right War, Right Place, Right Time
Posted on 09/06/2004 12:34:05 PM PDT by motife
September 6, 2004
Kerry on Iraq: Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time
By REUTERS
Filed at 10:57 a.m. ET
CANONSBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Monday 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 Bush's strongest issue -- Kerry tried to focus exclusively on the economy and other domestic topics at a neighborhood 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.
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 internationalize 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 Nov. 2 presidential election, his first four-year term would end in January 2009.
Kicking off a Labor 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.''
to which was replied :
"I understand why John Kerry is making proposals of this kind, but there is a lack of realism in them," Menzies Campbell, a British lawmaker who is a spokesman on defense issues for the Liberal Democratic Party, said in a typical comment.
The French and German governments have made clear that sending troops is out of the question. British officials have made no such categorical statement, but they have expressed concern that their troops are overstretched.
Although Japan has supplied a 550-member noncombat force as a symbol of its international commitment, analysts there see little chance the nation would agree to send more.
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrei Denisov, ruled out a commitment of troops. "We are not going to send anybody there, and that's all there is to say," Denisov said.
"From the major European countries, there's simply not a lot of available troops out there, for both practical and political reasons," said Christopher Makins, president of the Atlantic Council of the United States, which supports U.S. engagement abroad.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kerryiraq9aug09,1,7671568.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Ketchupman on the US: Wrong man, wrong office, wrong country.
Fox keeps showing him speaking out in California. Ranting and raving. If he keeps this up, he will sound like Howard Dean without the smile on his face. YUK!
he would vote for it again, knowing what he knows now.
When 58 of us voted on the floor of the Senate to send people into harm's way in order to achieve our stated goals, we were making a judgment about whether or not we thought it was a mistake to intervene. And now that we have decided to intervene, let us at least have the courage to persevere.
I remember someone here on the FR board mentioning an earlier article (2002??) where Kerry was quoted in a newspaper article pretty much agreeing with the Presidents actions regarding Iraq and the WOT in general...Help Out if you remember.
...but...but...he supports it...
"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."
What is up with Kerry? And these REPORTERS??!!!
Kerry DID vote to give Bush the authority to use force. Althought now I hear that there reasoning is that "We voted to give Bush the authority to make the DECISION to got to war, but we did not vote to go to war."
The Russians will soon change their tune.
I have but one thing to say to John Kerry.....Viet Nam!
it would have been the Right War, Right Place, Right Time
"take the time to build a legitimate coalition"
Another francophilic slap in the face of Blair. The guy never stops.
He voted for it and said he'd do what Bush did but its wrong
to have done it
John Kerry is a scary person
Bush said of the 12 who voted against the $87 billion, only 4 also voted for the war. 2 of the 4 were Kerry and Edwards.
The Franchurian Candidate, Moi Kerri, is running for president in the wrong country.
He should be running for president in France.
He's not "Monday Morning Quarterbacking".
Sen. Kerry's logic:
anti-Bush:Bush :: anti-matter:matter
In other words, there can be absolutely no agreement between what he believes and what Bush believes, or else the universe will explode.
I bet the millions of free Iraqis that now have a hope because Saddam is gone really love hearing this. Kerry has got to be their candidate of choice. [NOT!]
RE: COMMENCEMENT OF MILITARY STRIKES IN IRAQ
Thursday, March 20, 2003
WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to the commencement of military strikes in Iraq:
“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. We're in this together. We want to complete the mission while safeguarding our troops, avoiding innocent civilian casualties, disarming Saddam Hussein and engaging the community of nations to rebuild Iraq.”
W = Wrong?
K = Lame
I hope the campaign is planning to air ads with side by side clips of Kerry where he is gung-ho about taking out Saddam, using some from this: http://www.kerryoniraq.com
Dang!
Flip . . . . . and flop!!!
Flip . . . . . and flop!!!
Of course Kerry cannot be taken seriously with a position du jour.
W speech
According to Kerry
w stands for wrong
He still isn't making any sense ...
Bush was right: Kerry has time to change his mind 4 or 5 more times. Unbelievable.
We are confident that Bush will win. Americans don't care what the Europeans think. Observation: Sunday President Bush spoke to a crowd of 18,000 cheering fans in Parkersburg W.Va. I saw a kerry appearance today in Racine, W.Va. (centrally located in state) and the crowd shot showed maybe 500 unenthusiastic people. They were mostly hard-core union goons.
Then he and Edwards shouldn't have voted for it!
Poor John, he just can't help himself. He flip-flops AGAIN on Iraq. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Me too. I'm still speculating that clintoon & twerpy te-RAY-za are suffering from VD given that clintoon entered the hospital a day before twerpy did. Considering that clintoon screws anything in sight, he probably gave her some type of VD. Both had to enter the hospital for treatment, ostensibly him for heart and her for exhaustion.
frenchie MUST flip a coin EVERY time he talks about Iraq!
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