Posted on 06/07/2005 12:30:18 PM PDT by kristinn
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Chappaquiddick) has joined the liberal moonbats at DailyKos.com in flogging the Downing Street Memo that is being lauded as the smoking gun that will bring down the Bush administration over the liberation of Iraq.
In a posting at his Senate campaign Website that is cross posted at The Daily Kos, Sen. Kennedy used the memo to further attack the Bush administration. The legitamcy of the posting was confirmed by Crystal Patterson, who works for Kennedy's campaign.
The text of Kennedy's statement:
Senator Kennedy on the Downing Street Minutes
Cross-posted at www.dailykos.com
“The contents of the Downing Street Minutes confirm that the Bush Administration was determined to go to war in Iraq, regardless of whether there was any credible justification for doing so. The Administration distorted and misrepresented the intelligence in its attempt to link Saddam Hussein with the terrorists of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden, and with weapons of mass destruction that Iraq did not have.
In addition, the Downing Street Minutes also confirm what has long been obvious – that the timing of the war was linked to the 2002 Congressional elections, and that the Administration’s planning for post-war Iraq was incompetent in all its aspects. The current continuing crisis is a direct result of that incompetence.
Many of you have worked hard for the American people, the media and those in government to speak out about the Downing Street Minutes and the Iraq war. You can join me in speaking out as well. The policy of “shoot first, ask questions later” took us into an unjustified war, and without a clear concept of what “winning the war” actually means.
President Bush constantly talks about the “progress” that is being made in Iraq against the insurgency, but he’s looking for good news with a microscope. All anyone can see is “Mission Mis-accomplished” and the continuing losses of American lives, the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the torture scandal, and the ominous decline in our nation’s moral authority in the world community.
We know the Administration had been planning to invade Iraq for many months before the invasion actually began. We know the Administration twisted the intelligence to make the facts fit their plan. We know that the Administration never really intended to give the U.N. weapons inspectors a reasonable chance to succeed. The Downing Street Minutes demonstrate that the Administration knew their case for war was paper thin, and that in order to go into war with the support of our allies, we had to demonstrate some willingness to go along with the UN inspection process. But the Administration continued to misuse its intelligence, distort the facts and pay only lip-service to the UN’s role in disarming Iraq.
We never should have gone to war for ideological reasons driven by politics and based on manipulated intelligence. The Downing Street Minutes provide even more proof that this is exactly what happened on Iraq. The Administration’s dishonesty, lack of candor, and lack of planning have brought us to where we are today, with American soldiers dying, Iraqi civilians living in constant fear, and with no clearer picture of our strategy for victory in Iraq than when we started. ”
http://www.tedkennedy.com/downingstreet
–Crystal Patterson
"We know the Administration had been planning to invade Iraq for many months before the invasion actually began."
Yeah.... So? I guess Kennedy is saying he'd make a decision like this on the spur of the moment if he were President.
Sunk being the operative word there.
FYI
This POS is a traitor as well as a murderer. He should be tarred and feathered and run out of the country astride an old beer keg.
I sure we have plans in a file somewhere to invade North Korea, Syria, Mexico, etc, etc. Doesn't mean we are doing it tomorrow.
Ping
I guess he forgot that Regime Change was the Lawful Policy of the United States.
Say what you want about Ted, but you gotta admit, he's one hell of a swimmer.
For the last thirty years or so Ted has been desperately implying his own "moral authority"--which makes sense, psychologically.
If I had killed someone in a shameless and cowardly manner that Ted did, I would be desperate to find moral bankruptcy in everyone else.
Don't say sunk around Teddy.
Well .. the list adds to Dems Senators that post at the Dkos
Barbie Boxer
Russ Feingold
and now Fat Teddy
Gee, we had plans to invade Iraq? Wow! Guess what? We have contingency plans to invade every potential enemy country.
Ted should spend more time on the border blocking illegal immigrants with his big fat behind, and less time drumming up stupid conspiracy theories to feed to the main stream media. What a loser.
Dating as far back as the Clinton administration.
Bush gave Saddam an offer to peacefully leave Iraq. Saddam declined this generous offer. That's more than Ted gave Mary Jo.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1413451/posts?page=26#26
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
here is my response to that
TEXT OF A LETTER FROM PRESIDENT CLINTON TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE, December 18, 1998, (War Powers Declaration)
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/warpower.htm
26 posted on 06/06/2005 3:14:36 AM EDT by Mo1 (Hey GOP ---- Not one Dime till Republicans grow a Spine !!)
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I remember that October 1998 letter from a number of Senators prompted Clinton to bomb the crap out of Baghdad for four days and nights. Which only emboldened Saddam.
I can also remember Senate floor speeches by Democrats using big words like "regime change", Clinton even spun that into some of his speeches at the time. President Bush just took Clinton's policy right down to the dotted I's and the crossed T's, and finished the job that Clinton and the Democrats used to bump their poll numbers with.
We know the Administration had been planning to invade Iraq for many months before the invasion actually began.
Uh . . . you mean in the rush to war somebody actually planned an invasion. Who didn't already know this?
We know the Administration twisted the intelligence to make the facts fit their plan.
We know no such thing. Nor is that what is suggested in the memo.
We know that the Administration never really intended to give the U.N. weapons inspectors a reasonable chance to succeed.
Really? How do we know that? I don't see that anywhere in the text of the memo. More moonbat projection!
The Downing Street Minutes demonstrate that the Administration knew their case for war was paper thin . . .
Read it again Senator Kennedy. Did Bush say he thought the case was thin? Have you spoken with the author of the memo to verify the quote . . . if it is a quote?
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