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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (12519)	7/30/2004 2:34:01 PM
From: Oeconomicus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

From today's WSJ (orignal includes a picture of Kerry and Daniel Ortega from Kerry's 1985 visit with the Sandinista leader): With Friends Like These? Kerry's Latin Fans By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY July 30, 2004; Page A11 John Kerry has racked up three more "endorsements" from Latin America. Since Mr. Kerry says that as president he will be more engaged with the region, his Latin fan club deserves some attention. The most eye-popping Kerry endorsement last week came from Tómas Borge, one of the nine commandantes of Nicaragua's famed Sandinista revolution and perhaps the most feared. To preserve their power for a decade, the Sandinistas had to use the secret police and no small measure of brutality. Mr. Borge was infamously adept at using both. Last week during a 25th anniversary celebration of the Sandinista revolution, the aging rebel pledged that the Sandinistas "would sweep the Nicaraguan people to a new war if the U.S. attacks Cuba." Shortly thereafter, without a trace of irony, Mr. Borge declared George W. Bush, "demented, crazy and paranoid." Mr. Kerry, he said, "is a more sensible and balanced man, [who] would improve relations between the U.S. and us." Mr. Borge of course has reason to like Mr. Kerry. The Massachusetts senator went to Nicaragua in 1985 to meet the Soviet-backed Sandinista leadership and worked hard in the U.S. Senate against President Reagan's efforts to defend U.S. security interests in Central America. Notably, when the president sought to fund CIA aid for anti-Sandinista forces in this Cold War arena, Mr. Kerry introduced a restrictive amendment to the authorization bill, saying, "If it's strictly humanitarian assistance, then it's OK for the CIA to do it. But if the CIA moves off to tangential activities, that would be a violation." This, for anyone who doesn't already get it, helps explain why the CIA has become increasingly ineffectual over the past 20 years. Everyone now knows, as some did then, that the Sandinistas were up to no good. That fact was unearthed -- literally -- when, in May 1993 a massive nighttime explosion rocked Managua. As the smoke cleared, Mr. Borge was seen standing in his pajamas amidst a massive weapons cache, including surface-to-air missiles. The exposed bunker also contained the nerve center of an international kidnapping ring. According to a Wall Street Journal account: "The kidnapping ring relied on false papers and passports provided by the Sandinistas to move around while preying on targets." This caught the attention of more than a few terrorism experts. The Washington Post's Douglas Farah reported on July 14, 1993, that a diplomat familiar with the case said that "The vault 'looked like a one-stop shopping center for terrorist activities, where you could get guns and documents. You would have to be extraordinarily naive to think this was not under the aegis of some part of the intelligence operation of the Sandinistas.'" Mr. Borge's band of hoodlums has also been tied to Basque terrorists. More at: online.wsj.com

To: longnshort who wrote (12519)	7/30/2004 3:25:54 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

LIAR. Kerry also voted FOR every one of those weapons systems. The only one he didn't vote FOR at some point was the MX Missile and the B-2 maybe, both of which were hugely expensive. The B-2 had tremendous cost overruns. Kerry also voted for the biggest defenbse increases in history. The Bushies won't tell you that, will they? Do your homework and you'll see many GOP conservatives voted WITH Kerry against the wrong bills, and with him for the RIGHT bills. Also remember that many Peace Dividend votes to cut defenbse spending after the Cold War were wholeheartedly supported by the Bushies, including Cheney who bragged about the peace dividend. Bush Sr. was also a big defense cutter and base closer. Not every defense increase is a good thing. In fact many of them are pure wastes of money, like SDI for instance, Bush's #1 defense priority in 2001 while he was ignoring terrorism.