Is this an example of Kerry's "more sensitive" approach in dealing with Iraq?
Shortly after Allawi, the interim government's prime minister, gave a rosy portrayal of progress toward peace in Iraq, Kerry said the assessment contradicted reality on the ground."The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story,'' Kerry said.
Allawi told a joint meeting of Congress that democratic elections will take place in Iraq in January as scheduled, but Kerry said that was unrealistic.
Kerry also claimed: "I will do a better job of dealing with Iraq and winning the war and fighting the war on terror, period.''
Well, he's off to a fine start demonstrating he has little grasp of Arabic culture and Iraqi society in insulting Allawi, his clan and tribe. Which sound bite/pull quote do you think Al-Jazeera will run? Congressional applause or Kerry calling Allawi a liar?
Yeah, that's the ticket, John, undermine and piss off the Iraqi's who risk their life in working with us. That'll work.
UPDATE: After hearing the various sound bites and lame ass comments from the Kerry surrogates about how wrong Bush's approach was and is to Iraq; I hit the Google Way-back machine. In 1990 Saddam invaded Kuwait and defied eleven UN Resolutions, posing a threat to the world's oil supply. Bush 41 had 500,000 troops in place, a coalition of 109 countries, including France and Germany, UN Resolution 678, Nov. 29: Authorizes the use of force to uphold resolutions unless Iraq withdraws by Jan. 15, 1991, and the Saudi's to pick up the tab, the optimum conditions Kerry claims are required to win in Iraq. What did Kerry do? He voted Nay.
“I voted in favor of a resolution that would have insisted that economic sanctions be given more time to work and against a resolution giving the president the immediate authority to go to war” January 22, 1991. Nine days later on January 31, 1991, he said this, “From the outset of the invasion, I have strongly and unequivocally supported President Bush's response to the crisis and the policy goals he has established with our military deployment in the Persian Gulf”. [emphasis added]
Posted by feste at September 23, 2004 02:49 PM | TrackBack