Kerry Would Have Done 'Almost Everything Differently' in Iraq
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
September 01, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry Wednesday criticized President Bush's approach to the war in Iraq and the post-war reconstruction efforts, saying he would have done "almost everything differently."
Speaking at the National American Legion in Nashville, Tenn., Kerry said the president had "no real plan for post-war political transition."
"When it comes to Iraq, it's not that I would have done one thing differently. I would have done almost everything differently," the senator said. "I would have relied on American troops in Tora Bora, the best troops in the world, when we had Osama bin Laden in our sights trapped in the mountains.
"I would not have sent Afghans up into those mountains, who a week earlier were fighting on the other side. I would have sent the best trained forces in the world to get the number one criminal and terrorist in the world," he added.
Kerry said he would never have "diverted resources so quickly" from Afghanistan before capturing bin Laden.
Kerry added that he would have given weapons inspectors in Iraq more time to search for weapons of mass destruction, not because inspectors would have found all the weapons, "but because by doing do, we could have brought other countries to our side."
That way, he said, "you provide the best protection" and "you provide America with the greatest chance of success."
In addition, Kerry said he would have listened to senior advisers, provided state-of-the-art body armor, humvees and equipment to soldiers in Iraq, and built a "strong, broad coalition" of allies worldwide.
Kerry bashed Bush's use of the term "catastrophic success," saying the U.S. must bring "our allies to our side," share the burden of the war that is currently costing the U.S. taxpayer, and reduce the risks to U.S. soldiers.
"I don't think we need what President Bush has defined as a catastrophic success. I think we need a real success," Kerry said. He suggested that the military "more rapidly train Iraqi police and military" to take over the protection of Iraq.
The Democrat also criticized President Bush's original comments on Monday about the war on terror in an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer, in which Bush said, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world. Let's put it that way."
On Tuesday, Bush told the American Legion, "We may never sit down at a peace table, but make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win." Bush repeated the phrase "we will win" a number of times.
"I know he said something different to you yesterday, but I absolutely disagree with what he said in that interview in a moment of candor," Kerry said.
"With the right policies, this is a war we can win, this is a war we must win, and this is a war we will win, because we're the can-do people and there's nothing we can't do if we put our mind and our muscle to it," he said. "In the end, the terrorists will lose and we will win because the future does not belong to fear, it belongs to freedom."
Kerry's solution to winning the war on terror includes adding 40,000 active duty troops to the military, although not in Iraq.
"Nine out of ten of our Army divisions are now either in Iraq, going to Iraq, coming back from Iraq, getting ready to go to Iraq... even as Iran and North Korea get more dangerous. Our troops are overstretched, overextended, under pressure. I intend to double our special forces to conduct anti-terrorist operations," he said.
Kerry also said he would end the "back-door draft of the National Guard and reservists that is taking place today." |
