John Kerry gave a fire-breathing speech at Temple University in Philadelphia on Friday. In it he announced what will be his themes for the balance of the campaign, subject of course to 180-degree changes at any time. There was one problem with the speech. It was largely “fact-free,” as Dave Barry is wont to say.
Here are the claims, and the relevant facts to each claim:
“The invasion of Iraq was a profound diversion from the battle against our greatest enemy -- Al Qaeda -- ...” Kerry may not have noticed, but your average college student ought to know that the United States is capable of going after more than one bloodthirsty tyrant at a time. A Hitler and a Hirohito at the same time, perhaps? Hasn’t Kerry ever read a history book?
“Instead of using U.S. forces to capture Osama bin Laden ... the President outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, who let bin Laden slip away.” No one in Congress, including Kerry, complained at the time that the United States used a strategy in Afghanistan that less than 10,000 Americans would coordinate local forces and drive the Taliban from power in less than six weeks – something that the USSR was unable to do in a decade, using more than 100,000 troops. Didn’t Kerry read the newspapers, or the Congressional Record, in the last three years?
“We have alienated our allies, and we are going it alone.” We have 31 allies right now in Iraq. We only had seven allies with us at the end of World War II. Hasn’t Kerry ever read a history book?
“The war on terror is as monumental a struggle as the Cold War. Its outcome will determine whether we and our children live in freedom or in fear. It is not, as some people think, a clash of civilizations. Radical Islamic fundamentalism is not the true face of Islam.” For the first two sentences, Kerry had it right. But his logic veered into a ditch in the last two sentences. During the Spanish Inquisition, Torquemada WAS the face of Catholicism. Hasn’t Kerry ever read a history book on religious tortures and murders during the Middle Ages? That’s the right place to go to understand Islam and Wahabism today.
“Every week too many American families grieve for loved ones killed in Iraq by terrorist forces that weren't even there before the invasion.” Killings of Americans and of Germans who were “cooperating with the occupation” continued for two years after Germany surrendered in May, 1945. The principal organized opposition was the werewolves, who were created before the Third Reich fell. Has Kerry never read a history book?
“We need energy independence from the Middle East.” The folks who’ve fought tooth and nail in Congress to prevent increased domestic production of oil – such as using 2% of ANWAR in Alaska – are Democrats, including Kerry himself when he showed up. Hasn’t Kerry ever read the Congressional Record?
“I will strengthen our intelligence system to detect and stop the terrorists before they can strike.” The history of Kerry’s votes for 20 years in the Senate were to decrease both spending for intelligence, and the legal authority of intelligence agencies. Hasn’t Kerry ever read the Congressional Record, in case he’s forgotten his own speeches and votes?
“Twelve years ago, we began a bipartisan program to help these nations secure and destroy those weapons. It is incredible -- and unacceptable -- that in the three years after 9/11, President Bush hasn't stepped up our effort to lock down the loose nuclear weapons and materials in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. More such materials were secured in the two years before 9/11 than in the two years after.” When more than half of the nuclear materials from the former USSR have already been secured, that leaves less than half to be secured in the future. Hasn’t Kerry ever read an algebra book?
“We need to stop the development of nuclear weapons by Iran through international efforts.” The UN is already backpedaling from even passing a resolution suggesting the use of force in response to Iran thumbing its nose at the UN. Hasn’t Kerry read any newspapers lately?
“We need to keep North Korea from developing long-range missiles capable of delivering its nuclear weapons to the United States.” Kerry suggested we should negotiate directly with North Korea. Yet the last Americans to negotiate directly with North Korea were Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright. The result was an agreement including substantial bribes to North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons. They violated those agreements from the get-go. Hasn’t Kerry read a history of the Clinton Administration’s failed efforts with North Korea?
“In a Kerry-Edwards Administration, we'll give inspectors at our borders access to the terrorist watch lists.” Hasn’t Kerry noticed that upwards of a million people a year are sneaking across the open border with Mexico? They are NOT coming across at checkpoints and giving their correct names to border guards. Hasn’t Kerry read any newspapers from Arizona, California, New Mexico or Texas in the last three years?
“We will win when we work with our allies, to enable children in poor countries to get a quality basic education. More than 50 percent of the population in the Arab and Muslim world is under the age of 25. The future is a race between schools that spark learning and schools that teach hate. We have to preempt the haters. We have to win the war of ideas.” Apparently, Kerry is totally unaware of what is taught in the Palestinian classrooms and Wahabi-based classrooms around the world. Doesn’t Kerry (or anyone on his staff) ever read the Internet?
“I will convene a summit with our European partners and leaders from the Muslim world to strengthen mutual understanding, economic growth and the fight against terror.” Oh, good. Another summit. Hasn’t Kerry ever read the history of the summits held to date since World War II? For that matter, the ones during WW II did result in putting Eastern Europe under communist dictatorships for 50 years.
“As president, I will rebuild and lead strong alliances.” Germany and France, to name the major European “allies” of the United States, have been consistent in their criticism of American policies and their refusal to cooperate in those policies. Hasn’t Kerry read any newspapers describing the antagonistic policies of those and other nations around the globe? What part of , non, and nyet does Kerry fail to understand?
“When I'm president, denying our most dangerous enemies the world's most dangerous weapons will become the central priority for America.” Is Kerry actually ignorant of the policies of every US Administration since the end of World War II? Does he not know that this has been the consistent policy of every President since Harry Truman? Has Kerry never read the history of American diplomacy since 1945, and especially since the USSR first tested nuclear weapons in the 50s?
“I know we have to be resolute in confronting the evil that exists in the world. But in the end, one of our greatest strengths, one of our greatest safeguards, is that America can be the ideal that inspires others everywhere.” Kerry does not explain how giving in to the cash-and-carry or appeasement interests of the French, Germans, or others will enhance, rather than denigrate, the respect for American ideals around the world. Has he forgotten that it was the Chinese rebels in Tiananmen Square who quoted Jefferson and put up a replica of the Statue of Liberty? These ideas had no currency with the government of China, a point they emphasized by running tanks over the defenseless students. Has Kerry never read a history of the fate of reform movements in nations around the world in the last 30 year?
“This is all common sense; but none of it is a priority for the Bush Administration.” Everything that Kerry talks about is already being done, one way or the other, by the Bush Administration. And in instances like North Korea, this Administration has not repeated the mistakes of the Clinton Administration. Hasn’t Kerry read any national newspapers in the last three years?
The only way that anyone can take John Kerry’s current statements on Iraq and other matters seriously is with gross ignorance of the history of America in the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is a sad but accurate commentary on the state of American higher education that both students and faculty at Temple University generally took Kerry’s comments seriously and several times applauded. Clearly, they are as ignorant of American history as he is. And, sadly, the same comment will apply to many – but not all – of the talking heads on TV and elsewhere who will discuss the Kerry speech over this weekend.
I’ve said this before. I say again, because it’s still true: “Those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat it.” -Georges Santayana.
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