<<< ... With the likely nomination of Kerry – or, worse, Edwards – the possibility that there will be any real debate on the foreign policy question is completely closed off. Kerry not only voted for the war – he also voted for the so-called Iraq Liberation Act, sponsored by the Clinton administration, which launched the campaign for "regime change" in Iraq and funded Chalabi and his cohorts with millions (most of which promptly disappeared).
What is being spoiled, here, is the usual pattern in American politics: when it comes to foreign policy, no real debate is permitted during a presidential election year. The rest of the time, Americans can argue about it to their heart's content: in saloons, on the editorial pages of the nation's newspapers, in barbershops and beauty salons from coast to coast. But every four years, when it's time to elect a president, the unofficial moratorium is enforced by the complete absence of candidates who challenge the bipartisan conventional wisdom. In confronting what he calls the "two-party duopoly" – by calling for an end to the occupation, and a major downsizing of the military-industrial complex – what Nader is spoiling is the illusion of a grand foreign policy consensus. At least half of Americans now think the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. A third believe the President lied us into war, while roughly another third think he "exaggerated" the evidence to get us into war. Who will speak for them this election season? So far, the answer is: Ralph Nader ... >>>
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