Kerry Calls For Troop-Withdrawal Date
Senator John Kerry (D-MA) took renouncing the Bush-McCain Doctrine of escalating the war in Iraq a step further yesterday by calling for both a stop to George W. Bush's so-called "troop surge" and a date by which the U.S. will begin withdrawing all troops from Iraq.
Saying that Congress must not just stop the Bush’s escalation of the war but also preserve our core national security interests by removing our forces entirely, Kerry announced that he will attempt to force this issue by introducing legislation that will set a comprehensive strategy for achieving a political solution and creating a deadline for getting American troops home.
"Smart diplomacy and a sharp deployment of our troops is the only way out of this mess," Kerry said. "The president must set a firm deadline and until we do the Iraqi people will never take seriously their responsibility for their country and their political future. It’s time to give Iraq back to the Iraqis and stop asking brave American men and women to serve as referees in a bloody civil war."
In addition to calling for a full scale diplomatic initiative in the region, Kerry also said that Bush must seek a new authorization for the war and has cosponsored legislation with Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) that would eliminate new spending for the Iraqi war escalation -- while also emphasizing that he does not support changes to current funding levels for any troops already in Iraq.
In case any of this sounds familiar, it's because this is exactly the philosophy that Kerry articulated in his 2004 presidential campaign, when he said even then that the solution to the Iraq quagmire would be political and diplomatic, and not resolved on the battlefield.
To the people who actually voted for Bush over Kerry, I say this: Look at all of the Americans and Iraqis who have been killed over the last two years, consider what might have been and know that, to some degree, you bear responsibility for those deaths. Then turn off Fox News and examine the real choices a lot more carefully in the next election.
Saying that Congress must not just stop the Bush’s escalation of the war but also preserve our core national security interests by removing our forces entirely, Kerry announced that he will attempt to force this issue by introducing legislation that will set a comprehensive strategy for achieving a political solution and creating a deadline for getting American troops home.
"Smart diplomacy and a sharp deployment of our troops is the only way out of this mess," Kerry said. "The president must set a firm deadline and until we do the Iraqi people will never take seriously their responsibility for their country and their political future. It’s time to give Iraq back to the Iraqis and stop asking brave American men and women to serve as referees in a bloody civil war."
In addition to calling for a full scale diplomatic initiative in the region, Kerry also said that Bush must seek a new authorization for the war and has cosponsored legislation with Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) that would eliminate new spending for the Iraqi war escalation -- while also emphasizing that he does not support changes to current funding levels for any troops already in Iraq.
In case any of this sounds familiar, it's because this is exactly the philosophy that Kerry articulated in his 2004 presidential campaign, when he said even then that the solution to the Iraq quagmire would be political and diplomatic, and not resolved on the battlefield.
To the people who actually voted for Bush over Kerry, I say this: Look at all of the Americans and Iraqis who have been killed over the last two years, consider what might have been and know that, to some degree, you bear responsibility for those deaths. Then turn off Fox News and examine the real choices a lot more carefully in the next election.
posted by Bob Geiger at 1/25/2007 01:33:00 PM
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