August 9, 2004

THE KERRY PLAN: DEMOCRACY OR DEATH!:

Plan is to bring troops home (John Kerry, 8/08/04, USA Today)

I know what our troops go through when they carry an M-16 in a dangerous place and can't tell friend from foe.

I know what they go through when they are out on patrol at night and don't know what's coming around the next bend.

I know what it is like to write letters home telling your family that everything's all right when you're not sure that's true.

As president, I will never send troops into battle without the right equipment or a plan to win the peace. I will bring back our nation's time-honored tradition: The United States never goes to war because we want to. We only go to war because we have to.

I will meet our sacred commitment to our brave troops in Iraq — to end their mission successfully and bring them home as soon as possible. At stake is whether Iraq will complete its march to democracy or degenerate into the next proving ground for terrorists.


So, if we can follow all that, Mr. Kerry would not remove troops until Iraq is a functioning democracy. That seems a bit ambitious.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2004 1:04 PM
Comments

In Kerry's mind, going to war when you 'have to' means never. I doubt if he would strike anywhere even if a nuke were set off in the US. He is a more tortured a figure than Jimmy Carter, and Carter enjoyed ordering the military around.

Posted by: jim hamlen at August 9, 2004 1:46 PM

And if elected, I have no doubt he would immediately 'cut and run' from Iraq, withdrawing all troops regardless of the state of affairs there.

Posted by: jd watson at August 9, 2004 8:03 PM

jd:

To the contrary. The entire campaign is premised on his psychological need to be seen as tough. If elected he'll have us in another shooting war within six months.

Posted by: oj at August 9, 2004 9:12 PM

He doesn't have the stones for that. Remember, it is just a premise. Jimmy Carter's pride is that he didn't lose any lives in combat while he was President. JFK is so haunted by Vietnam that he would be the same kind of man.

Posted by: jim hamlen at August 9, 2004 9:18 PM

WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam....The Democrat Wars

Posted by: oj at August 9, 2004 9:26 PM

re Carter's pride : I doubt the families of the eight killed at 'Desert One' would agree with him.

I agree with you, jd. Kerry's statement sounds more like cut and run than stay the course but, to oj's point, it's not mutually exclusive with going back to shooting cruise missiles at aspirin factories and empty tents.

Posted by: Chris B at August 9, 2004 9:59 PM

Remember how Kruschev tested Kennedy at Vienna, and after deciding he could be intimidated, increased the pressure on Berlin and began sending missiles to Cuba. A President Kerry obviously wouldn't have a summit meeting with the terrorist leaders, but he will be probed by them (and probably by the mullahs in Iran and Little Kim in North Korea) for any weaknesses, which will require either a response or a Clinton-like stand down in Somalia.

OJ may be right about his liklihood of getting us into a shooting war, but a "Stand down and blame Bush" strategy would also be popular among his core consituency, which would then try to use the press to make that medcine go down with the rest of hte public.

Posted by: John at August 9, 2004 11:18 PM
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