Kerry on Iraq

[cjromero]

In response to MaxPower's recent post that Kerry has been consistent in his position on Iraq, I offer the following series of quotes:

1. Kerry has gone to great lengths to separate the war in Iraq from the global war on terrorism. He was singing a different tune in recent years, however:

"I think we clearly have to keep the pressure on terrorism globally. This doesn’t end with Afghanistan by any imagination. And I think the president has made that clear. I think we have made that clear. Terrorism is a global menace. It’s a scourge. And it is absolutely vital that we continue, for instance, Saddam Hussein." ---Larry King Live, December 14, 2001

"He is and has acted like a terrorist, and he has engaged in activities that are unacceptable."--- O'Reilly Factor, December 11, 2001.

"[I] think we ought to put the heat on Saddam Hussein. I’ve said that for a number of years, Bill. I criticized the Clinton administration for backing off of the inspections, when Ambassador Butler was giving us strong evidence that we needed to continue. I think we need to put the pressure on, no matter what the evidence is about September 11 ..." ---O'Reilly Factor, December 11, 2001


2. Kerry has complained that not enough diplomacy was used. Previously, however, he said this:

MSNBC’S CHRIS MATTHEWS: "Do you think that the problem we have with Iraq is real and it can be reduced to a diplomatic problem? Can-can we get this guy to accept inspections of those weapons of mass destruction potentially and get past a possible war with him?" (MSNBC’s "Hardball," 2/5/02)

KERRY: "Outside chance, Chris. Could it be done? The answer is yes. But he would view himself only as buying time and playing a game, in my judgment. Do we have to go through that process? The answer is yes. We’re precisely doing that. And I think that’s what Colin Powell did today." (MSNBC’s "Hardball," 2/5/02)

And this one from a debate in the Democratic primaries:

"George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him." (ABC News Democrat Presidential Candidates Debate, Columbia, SC, 5/3/03)

3. He has complained that the U.S. should not have gone to war without more allies on board. Then there was this from an Op Ed piece in the New York Times.

If Saddam Hussein is unwilling to bend to the international community's already existing order, then he will have invited enforcement, even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act."---Op Ed piece written by Kerry in the NYT, September 6, 2002

4. On the issue of Hussein possibly giving WMDs to terrorists, Kerry said this on Face the Nation

I would disagree with John McCain that it’s the actual weapons of mass destruction he may use against us, it’s what he may do in another invasion of Kuwait or in a miscalculation about the Kurds or a miscalculation about Iran or particularly Israel. Those are the things that - that I think present the greatest danger. He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat."---Face the Nation, September 15, 2002

5. Here is what Kerry said on Face the Nation in response to a question on whether he intended to vote against the $87 billion.

"I don’t think any United States senator is going to abandon our troops and recklessly leave Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running. That’s irresponsible. What is responsible is for the administration to do this properly now. And I am laying out the way in which the administration could unite the American people, could bring other countries to the table, and I think could give the American people a sense that they’re on the right track. There’s a way to do this properly. But I don’t think anyone in the Congress is going to not give our troops ammunition, not give our troops the ability to be able to defend themselves. We’re not going to cut and run and not do the job." (CBS’ "Face The Nation," 9/14/03)

[wacki]

Excellent job cprhou, too bad this thread only has 9 views. I don't understand why some people can't see what Kerry is doing.

My favorite quote from Kerry was made on Hannity's radio show december 15th, 2003 where he criticized Howard Dean and said he wasn't fit to be president because "you can't be inconsistent on Iraq, and the War" He further criticized Dean because Dean said Saddam had WMD's but was against the war and that was enough to make him unfit.

[wet_behind_the_ears]

Agreed. Kerry is a horrendous candidate. As a W supporter, I'm glad he's the dem's choice, as any halfway decent candidate would have already buried W in the polls by now.

If W comes up lame again tonight, he's in deep trouble.

[MaxPower]

[ QUOTE ]

And this one from a debate in the Democratic primaries:

"George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him." (ABC News Democrat Presidential Candidates Debate, Columbia, SC, 5/3/03)


[/ QUOTE ]

Your list of quotes are basically taken right out of the GOP video.

If you were going to make the case that he flip-flopped, this is best quote for you.

The GOP is trying to promote the idea that Kerry had a radical change of mind due to polls and the popularity of Howard Dean. They are using the Iraq issue to try to imply that he has no core beliefs. I don't think that is true because his position has been pretty much the same for years.

You can disagree with his core beliefs, but he does have them.

I was trying to make a very specific point about Kerry and the way the Bush campaign is trying to characterize him. I'm not trying to prove that Kerry is a great candidate or that his core beliefs are correct.

Both campaigns are mischaracterizing the other candidate. I just happen to think that the characterization of Kerry as a flip-flopper is not valid. The problem is that Kerry is a Senator and you could do the same thing to any Senator if you looked at what they have voted for and said over the years.

This isn't helped by the fact that Kerry is not very good at projecting decisiveness.

[cjromero]

I am not as concerned about the flip flops, but only that Kerry is being intellectually dishonest on the issue. That and he voted against the $87 billion out of pure political expediency.

I think Kerry's real position is that Iraq was a threat (based on the intelligence available at the time) and that in a post-9/11 world it was appropriate for the U.S. to invade even though the U.N. Security Council did not approve it. He would have preferred more time for inspectors, but in the end I think he would have authorized the war because Saddam was never going to convince us that he destroyed all of his WMDs. It's very hard to disprove a negative, especially when Saddam was telling even his generals that he had stockpiles of WMDs.

I would have more respect for Kerry if he simply said the following: I supported the decision to invade based on the intelligence I reviewed, but Bush screwed up the implementation of the postwar plan, and people are dying because of his poor planning. While he is saying that, it gets obscured by all of his back and forth about WMDs, etc. All of that is unnecessary fluff.

And, to be consistent, he should have voted for the $87 billion.

Instead, Kerry has to engage in all of the "Bush misled us" rhetoric. He should just say that the war was the right idea, but we have the wrong person in charge of the war. Period. End of story.

[GWB]

Don't forget to watch the Kerry On Iraq (http://www.kerryoniraq.com/) video.