Tracking all the Kerry flip-flops on Iraq is a hopeless endeavor, but here is a choice one. Kerry’s speech on Monday:
The President claims [Iraq] is the centerpiece of his war on terror. In fact, Iraq was a profound diversion from that war . . .
Secretary of State Powell admits that Iraq was not a magnet for international terrorists before the war. Now it is, and they are operating against our troops. Iraq is becoming a sanctuary for a new generation of terrorists who someday could hit the United States.
So, what did Kerry say when he voted on the Iraq war resolution?
It would be naive to the point of grave danger not to believe that, left to his own devices, Saddam Hussein will provoke, misjudge, or stumble into a future, more dangerous confrontation with the civilized world. He has as much as promised it. . .
A brutal, oppressive dictator, guilty of personally murdering and condoning murder and torture, grotesque violence against women, execution of political opponents, a war criminal who used chemical weapons against another nation and, of course, as we know, against his own people, the Kurds. He has diverted funds from the Oil-for-Food program, intended by the international community to go to his own people. He has supported and harbored terrorist groups, particularly radical Palestinian groups such as Abu Nidal, and he has given money to families of suicide murderers in Israel.
Man, this is just too easy sometimes. I also found this amusing:
The President . . . should give other countries a stake in Iraq�s future by encouraging them to help develop Iraq�s oil resources and by letting them bid on contracts instead of locking them out of the reconstruction process.
[snip]
The President . . . should use more Iraqi contractors and workers, instead of big corporations like Halliburton.
So, after all of Kerry’s bluster about a coalition of “the coerced and the bribed,” be wants to get more people on our side by . . . bribing them. But at least he’s being consistent in calling for outsourcing jobs currently done by U.S. companies and workers, right?
As an unapologetic anti-war liberal, I will admit I have been quite frustrated with Kerry’s position change on the Iraq issue. But AT LEAST HIS POSITION HAS EVOLVED as the antiwar bunch hoped it would–and it is now clear, and he has a plan. Meanwhile, Bush’s position has not changed, despite the downward spiral of chaos in Iraq, despite the revelations that the WMD intelligence was all wrong, despite the 9/11 commission’s conclusion that Iraq and al-Qaeda were not collaborating. How stupid is it to NOT change one’s position in light of new evidence and in light of disentegrating stability? I find it more frustrating when a leader does not demonstrate evidence of having learned from mistakes. Bush has no plan. Bush has nothing but his stupidity, his arrogance and his pride.
We’re such sports fans here in America. We’ll root for the home team no matter how dismally they perform. And the more brutal the fight, the more we like it. Beat ’em to a pulp, boys! As long as W talks tough and gives us a good scary enemy, we’ll keep voting for him. A few of us like to think that we’re purveyors of freedom, not ass-whipping, but that barely matters as long as we’re defending our honor with all the firepower we can muster. My president can beat up yours! Despite the increasing median age of our citizens, as a whole we act like a bunch of grade-school kids!
Ah, yes, #11.
Our sports fans are so rude and crude. Our obsession with sports is so jejune!
Far better, for example, to be like the EUropeans. British soccer fans come to mind. Or, perhaps like the French judges in the Olympic figure-skating competition a few years back, eh?