Posted on 06/13/2006 3:49:46 PM PDT by fuyb
Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com) - U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts on Tuesday told an audience at the liberal Take Back America conference that he was sorry for voting to authorize the war in Iraq, calling the entire mission "a mistake."
"We were misled, we were given evidence that was not true," Kerry said. "It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote [for it]."
Kerry, who led an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2004, said it was necessary to admit mistakes because "you cannot change the future if you''re not honest about the past." He criticized supporters of the war, who label anti-war activists and politicians as unpatriotic and pessimistic.
"The true pessimists are those who will not accept that America''s strength depends on our credibility at home and around the world," Kerry said. "The true pessimists are those who do not understand that valuing our principles is critical to our national security and it is as critical to our national security as our military power itself."
He said questioning the war and fighting in it are "two sides of the very same patriotic coin" and compared the modern anti-war movement to the anti-war movement in the Vietnam War. Kerry, who served in Vietnam, returned to the United States and offered testimony to Congress, opposing the war and describing horrific war crimes he said soldiers committed there.
He said opposing the war is "a right and an obligation" because it was "founded on a lie [and] can never be true to America''s character."
Kerry also lashed out at war supporters who accuse anti-war activists of not supporting the troops. "The best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that destroys their lives," he said.
Kerry renewed his call for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, saying that he supports setting a timetable for the removal in Iraq that is not "cut and run." Without saying when he would like troops removed from the war zone, Kerry said he believes "we need a hard and fast deadline."
Kerry made his comments during a speech at the annual Take Back America conference in the nation''s capital. Organized by the liberal Campaign for America''s Future, the conference has also feature U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. U.S. Sens. Russ Feingold and Barack Obama are scheduled to appear Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee was not immediately available for reaction to Kerry''s comments.
When the troops leave and Iraq is moving forward he'll claim credit. He's a jerk.
LOL!
Right, and his headstone will read: "Stiff. Finally."
"The true pessimists are those who do not understand that valuing our principles is critical to our national security and it is as critical to our national security as our military power itself."
We value OUR principles. I'm confused at to what yours ARE J F'n Kerry.
Well then, Since sKerry's entire political career was built on the LIES of his service in Vietnam, his 2 phony Purple Hearts, his phony Silver Star, his phony trip into Cambodia and his slanderous testimony before the Senate --- then Kerry himself can NEVER be "True" to America's character.
For an asshole whose entire life has been a lie --- one would think he would avoid the use of that word..
I pray the ghosts of all the honorable men who died in Vietnam, haunt his every sleeping hour...
A POX on his ass..
Semper Fi
"(John Kerry's) default position is the conventional wisdom of the Massachusetts Left:
on foreign policy, foreigners know best;
on trade, the labour unions know best;
on government, bureaucrats know best;
on defence, graying ponytailed nuclear-freeze reflex anti-militarists know best;
on the wine list, he knows best."
Mark Steyn
Because responding to a comment you didn't actually hear is not very smart.
Ol' Rice-Butt speaks again!
That was a brutal zinger you just tossed. Kudos.
Could his timing be MORE wrong?
Which time?
If he was wrong and could be wrong again then which time is he right and which time is he wrong. Is he wrong then or now.
Ohhhh, noooooooo it's time to chase the tail around the tree.
"He was right, but for the wrong reasons. Now he's wrong, still for the wrong reasons."
can one be wrong for the right reasons?
John Kerry didn't vote in favor of the war. He showed up late and thought the vote they were taking was on something else. /sarc
Hey John F'in Ratfink?
Tell the 26 million Iraqis who are breathing free oxygen today because of their liberation from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship that the war was a "mistake", eh?
Under President Bush's leadership, over 50 million human beings, previously enslaved by terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, are now free, and apparently in Kerry's pathetic little world, it would have been better to leave those souls oppressed, imprisoned and subject to torture and death at the whim of their now-deposed tyrants.
Kerry is a traitor. He betrayed his fellow servicemen with his disloyal words and deeds after he japped out of Vietnam with his three questionable Purple Hearts, he violated U.S. law when he traveled to Paris to engage in negotiations with the Communists while we were at war with them, and he lied before the United States Senate, accusing U.S. troops of war crimes which they did not commit, no evidence was ever introduced to prove such crimes, and that is because Kerry was lying then, and he's lying now.
The SOB has no business being in the United States Senate, and it is a sad commentary on the people of Massachusetts that they continue to elect a traitor, and a killer (Fat Teddy) to represent them in Washington.
Shame on them all.
I would say that killing terrorists is critical to our national security, you seem to think it should be left up to the UN.
We've seen how well that works. FUJFK
You have to laugh when they say to put the troops over the horizon. I don't think Jordanians or Kuwaiti's want thousands of US troops in their country. The RATS are clueless about Iraq.
So in other words "I was wrong to have supported Iraq when I thought it would be popular, so now that it's not popular I apologize for being more adept at pandering."
You, I and many others know that Kerry's PHs were a sham and SHAME on the officer that signed off on them, he too needs to be publicly shamed. Come on Kerry, sign and SUBMIT Form 180 you wuss! You're the one that made issues of these things, let's see your records you fraud.
come clean with the American people you swiftboat leech! Sign that 180 Form!
Now with President Bush actually able to safely stay in Iraq, he is saying this?
I think he will be saying he was wrong about being wrong in the months ahead...
I'm starting to think that the reason ANYONE likes this guy is because he's like the weather, wait awhile and he'll eventually come around to your view on an issue.
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