Mr. Allen, up in your country it seems that spousal abuse must be occurring. This article in the Boston Globe says kerry made this statement.
''What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States,''
Clearly in a time of War like this, such rhetoric could only come from a confused mind that had been smashed by a baseball bat by a spouse.
This is the only rational explanation that I can come up with.
Kerry says US needs its own 'regime change'
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 4/3/2003
ETERBOROUGH, N.H. - Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that
President Bush committed a ''breach of trust'' in the eyes of many United
Nations members by going to war with Iraq, creating a diplomatic chasm that
will not be bridged as long as Bush remains in office.
''What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq,
but we need a regime change in the United States,'' Kerry said in a speech at
the Peterborough Town Library.
Despite pledging two weeks ago to cool his criticism of the administration
once war began, Kerry unleashed a barrage of criticism as US troops fought
within 25 miles of Baghdad.
By echoing the ''regime change'' line popular with hundreds of thousands of
antiwar protesters who have demonstrated across the nation in recent weeks,
the Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential contender seemed
to be reaching out to a newly invigorated constituency as rival Howard Dean,
the former governor of Vermont and a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq,
closes in on Kerry in opinion polls.
Kerry said that he had spoken with foreign diplomats and several world
leaders as recently as Monday while fund-raising in New York and that they
told him they felt betrayed when Bush resorted to war in Iraq before they
believed diplomacy had run its course.
He said the leaders, whom he did not identify, believed that Bush wanted to
''end-run around the UN.''
''I don't think they're going to trust this president, no matter what,'' Kerry said.
''I believe it deeply, that it will take a new president of the United States,
declaring a new day for our relationship with the world, to clear the air and turn
a new page on American history.''
With a dig at Bush's previous lack of foreign policy experience, Kerry said he
would usher in a new US foreign policy if he stood before the United Nations
as president.
''I believe we can have a golden age of American diplomacy,'' he said,
outlining his own foreign policy credentials in the speech. ''But it will take a
new president who is prepared to lead, and who has, frankly, a little more
experience than visiting the sum total of two countries'' before taking office.
The criticism appeared to contradict statements Kerry made on March 18, just
a day before Bush authorized military action to remove Saddam Hussein from
power.
Kerry, who previously had been critical of Bush's efforts to reach out to the
international community, was reluctant that day to answer when a television
crew asked him whether the administration had handled its diplomatic efforts
poorly.
''You know, we're beyond that now,'' the senator said after addressing the
International Association of Fire Fighters. ''We have to come together as a
country to get this done and heal the wounds.''
Kerry, a Navy veteran of Vietnam, said he strongly supported US troops.
''There will be plenty of time here to be critical about how we arrived here,'' he
said at that time. In response to questions after his speech yesterday, Kerry
reiterated his support for the troops.
He also joined the administration in blasting ''armchair generals'' who are
criticizing the war plan.
''War is war,'' he said. ''It's tough, and I think there's a little too much armchair
quarterbacking and Monday-morning reviewing going on. I think we need to
trust in the process for a few days here. This is only [14] days old, and they've
achieved quite a remarkable advance in that period of time.''
When asked to square his criticism with his pledge of restraint two weeks
earlier, Kerry first said that he had tempered his criticism of the
administration's diplomatic efforts.
Then he said: ''It is possible that the word `regime change' is too harsh.
Perhaps it is.''
Finally, he said his overall criticism of the administration was part of ''the
healthy democracy of the United States of America'' and no different from
some of the war critiques published on the front page of major newspapers.
''Is that unpatriotic?'' he asked.
A top Republican strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kerry
was ''free to express his beliefs, but if anyone should be aware of the
sensitivities of how our leaders should be conducting themselves while we're
at war, I would think Senator Kerry would.''
''The president doesn't have the luxury of a campaign timeline to address the
crisis of terrorism and its manifestation in Saddam Hussein,'' the strategist
said.
During his opening remarks and on several occasions as he answered
questions from the audience of more than 100 people, Kerry said he was the
most experienced candidate in either party in terms of foreign policy and
national security background.
''We need a president of the United States who has a vision of the world that
is very different from what these excessively ideological unilateralists want to
thrust on us and the rest of the world,'' said the 18-year veteran of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
Taking aim at Attorney General John D. Ashcroft at one point, the senator
added: ''One of the reasons why I am running for president of the United
States is that I look forward with pleasure and zeal for the opportunity to
appoint an attorney general of the United States who believes and reads and
abides by the Constitution.''
Kerry was equally critical of his rivals for the Democratic nomination.
''I believe that I have a better capacity than any other candidate running in the
field to be able to stand up and address questions of national security and
America's role in the world with credibility and history, and to be able to move
us to those areas where we win, which is on the domestic agenda,'' he said.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. |
