Nixon's reach is long as he taps Senator Kerry on the shoulder from the grave. The 1970's anti-war activist Kerry's "Nixon's War" meme may come back to haunt him — should he be elected — Iraq will become "Kerry's War".
Does Kerry have a plan to "win the peace", or is he just blowing smoke ala Nixon?
In 1968, Nixon sought political gain from anti-war fervor when he touted a secret plan to end the Vietnam War. Kerry, a decorated veteran of that conflict, reminds some of Nixon when he talks of vague deals with foreign leaders.
Is Kerry equivocating on assurances of European rapprochement?
""Obviously, we'd have to see how events unfold," he added. "I intend to get more people involved in that effort and I'm convinced I can be more successful than President Bush in succeeding in doing that. It is an appropriate goal to have and I'm going to try to achieve it."Kerry refused to say if he had any private assurances from Arab or European nations that they would help with security and reconstruction in Iraq
We also learn from a recent AP interview that it was Senators Joe Biden and Carl Levin visiting NY restaurants to craft deals over the foie gras.
“There is a potential to be able to put a deal together over the course of time,” Kerry told The Associated Press in his first interview as the Democratic nominee. “At least, that is the perception that smart people like Joe Biden and, you know, Carl Levin and other leaders who’ve been there for a long time.”He said his fellow Democratic senators, reporting on their foreign travels, have told him, “A change in the presidency is essential to our ability to restore our respect and relationship.”
But when asked for hard evidence that his victory would produce a troops-reducing deal for America, neither Kerry nor his fellow senators cite anything other than their vague perceptions and utmost hopes.
“I can’t give you the details of any deal, obviously,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Monday. “You don’t negotiate a deal until you have a leader who is there to negotiate a deal.”
Seems highly unlikely given that the UN has been unable to muster a protective force for their return to Baghdad.
UN refuses to protect its own mission in BaghdadThe United Nations has failed to organize a special force in Iraq with the limited mission of securing its own headquarters.
UN officials said member states refused to contribute to a proposed force that would protect a UN mission in Baghdad. The mission was meant to mark the return of the UN presence in Iraq after a year's absence and help organize and monitor national elections in January 2005.
The UN left Iraq in August 2003 in wake of an Al Qaida-inspired bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad. A UN report later blamed poor security for the success of the insurgency strike, which destroyed UN headquarters in Iraq.
Over the last few weeks, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan sought to establish a security force to protect the UN mission in Baghdad, Middle East Newsline reported. But Annan said nobody has pledged to commit troops.
"We haven't had much success attracting governments to sign up for the dedicated force to protect the UN personnel in Iraq and our property," Annan said. "So for the time being, for practical measures, we have no other choice but to rely on the multinational force."
Under the current arrangement, the U.S.-led coalition would provide protection for the UN mission in Baghdad. Annan did not say how many troops would be deployed.