A Letter To John Kerry In Response To The First Debate
By Lillian Hesler
Oct. 3, 2004
I am writing to you, John Kerry, in rebuttal to many of your statements in the debates. I will quote your responses, and then give you my response. You may have convinced, and pulled the wool over the eyes of some, but not mine. You have most definitely earned the title I have seen on the internet “Scary Kerry”.
“I have a better plan for homeland security. I have a better plan to be able to fight the war on terror by strengthening our military", Please tell me something in your plan that the President has not already done or is not already doing, or is not in his plans to do. How would you strengthen our military when you voted against the $97 billion to protect our boys? "strengthening our intelligence", (the President is already doing this) "by going after the financing more authoritatively," (the President is already doing this), "by doing what we need to do to rebuild the alliances," Sixteen U.N. resolutions did not do the job for 10 years, and by all accounts, “your” alliances have already said they will not support you in this endeavor. You voted NAY on the Dodd Amndt to HR 4775: To allow the United States to render assistance to INTERNATIONAL efforts to bring to justice Saddam Hussein and other foreign nationals accused of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. You vote no to international efforts, but you preach you will involve the international community. "by reaching out to the Muslim world", It is not the Muslim world that is doing this, it is Muslim terrorists that no one can reach out to, not even their own people. "which the president has almost not done" Something you will never be able to do after insulting the Saudi's, Russians, British, Polish, Australians, Allawi, plus all our current allies in the battle against terror. "and beginning to isolate the radical Islamic Muslims", That is the very point; they are isolated in Iraq. We need to leave them there, be on the offense not the defense. I do not want them isolated in the United States of America. If you are President, with your policies, that is the very thing you will do ISOLATE us to fear in our own country, by allowing terrorists to stay here and attack us. "I know I can do a better job in Iraq. I have a plan to have a summit with all of the allies, something this president has not yet achieved, not yet been able to do to bring people to the table." This is laughable, no one will support you, and they have said it over and over. The newspapers have reported the responses of your allies, and they have said it would not change their minds. Maybe you could bring the terrorists to the table; it worked with Arafat, didn't it? "We can do a better job of training the Iraqi forces to defend themselves, and I know that we can do a better job of preparing for elections." The President is doing this; NATO will be helping with the training. The newspapers reported this before the debates. Training takes time since these people have been subdued so long by Sadaam. They have to learn to be aggressive without fear. "But we also have to be smart, Jim. And smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on terror in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden and taking if off to Iraq where the 9/11 Commission confirms there was no connection to 9/11 itself and Saddam Hussein, and where the reason for going to war was weapons of mass d"estruction, not the removal of Saddam Hussein." You read the report too Senator, or was that one of the many meetings you missed, or did you just not have enough time to be briefed? I seem to recall an interview with Larry King where you said, “I haven’t had time for a terror briefing.” "This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment. And judgment is what we look for in the president of the United States of America." Oh, so that is what we looked for in Clinton???? He sold us out to the Chinese and North Koreans. Thanks to him, North Korea is able to produce weapons of mass destruction. You can try to blame the President all you want on this one, but it was not he that gave the North Koreans the ability to produce them. Again, the President stopped Saddam before he could do this very thing. "I‘m proud that important military figures who are supporting me in this race: former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili; just yesterday, General Eisenhower‘s son, General John Eisenhower, endorsed me; General Admiral William Crown; General Tony McBeak, who ran the Air Force war so effectively for his father— all believe I would make a stronger commander in chief. And they believe it because they know I would not take my eye off of the goal: Osama bin Laden." This is part of your problem; Osama is not the only terrorist. The President has the vision to see this. You do not have that vision. We need a leader that has a vision, a vision to protect us from ALL terrorists, even if it has to be at the same time. "Unfortunately, he escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora. We had him surrounded. But we didn‘t use American forces, the best trained in the world, to go kill him. The president relied on Afghan warlords and he outsourced that job too. That‘s wrong." Is there some security report that tells you Osama escaped? Are you keeping knowledge from the American public regarding Osama's whereabouts? I seem to remember Clinton had him surrounded too, but a party was more important than getting Osama in the 80's. Perhaps if we had a President that stayed focus on his job as we do now, there would have been no 9-11. If we had not involved the Afghan citizens to run their own country, you would have accused the President of taking over the country. "We had Saddam Hussein trapped." Just where did we have him trapped? Ten years of UN resolutions did nothing. The UN set a time line for Saddam and gave him the chance to cooperate. He did not comply. So, what did you want to do, give him another 10 years? "Those words mean something to me, as somebody who has been in combat. “Last resort.” You have to be able to look in the eyes of families and say to those parents, “I tried to do everything in my power to prevent the loss of your son and daughter." Here we go again, YOU bringing your Vietnam record into the picture, not the Republicans. You keep bringing in your Vietnam experience, 4 1/2 months?? There are more men out there that spent YEARS fighting, POW's, that spent much more time than you there, and have much more experience than you do from Vietnam. When are you going to release all of your records? Sign the form Senator, be honest with the people of this country. Is your opinion of our military one that all men and women in it are there for a free ride? They can join the military to boast and brag they are in the military with no fear of war? Is the military just an institution to you to that represents we have a “force” present to show the "world" we have one? What will you say to all the people when we are attacked again and large amounts of citizens are killed right here in our own country? "I tried to protect us here at home, but I am really sorry people had to be sacrificed while I tried to protect this country at home?” "And we pushed our allies aside." No, Senator. Our so- called allies showed us all what hypocrites they are. They should have supported us, as we have them all these years. Funny how they seem to forget our support. Our thousands of soldiers buried in France are turning over in their graves. "And so, today, we are 90 percent of the casualties." Have you forgotten about all the thousands of Iraqi's killed before the war?? All the innocent children and women slaughtered by Saddam???? They are casualties caused by Saddam, just as our soldiers are casualties caused by the terrorist Saddam. A dictator is a tyrant or a ruler who exercises power in a harsh, cruel manner. Saddam is a despot, a person who wields power oppressively. A terrorist governs by intimidation. These are all one in the same. "And Iraq is not even the center of the focus of the war on terror." I hate to inform you, I thought you were brilliant, but the focus is where the terrorists are, and they are currently in Iraq. Thank God, they are not here in the U.S. Senator. If left up to your beliefs that is exactly where they will be. Sorry, I would rather see the U.S. fight them in Iraq. "The president moved the troops, so he‘s got 10 times the number of troops in Iraq than he has in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden is." You state this as fact. What is it that you know about Osama???? Why do you think he is still there?? It is because that is what you want the American citizens to believe. Personally, I think he is dead. "The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it." So, Senator Kerry, you are saying that all terrorists of the world are in Afghanistan??? Okay, so that is why there have been attacks in Russia, Spain, and Iraq??? They are attacking all these places from Afghanistan??? Now, tell me, just exactly how would you chase down the terrorists??? You would put all our troops in Afghanistan, and fight them all from there??? Nice plan. "You don‘t send troops to war without the body armor that they need." Exactly senator. YOU voted against the body armor in the end. You admitted in the interview with Diane Sawyer that the reason you voted against it, was because you were "protesting". You said you were protesting because the bill did not have your personal agenda attached to it. What kind of leader is that?? Selfish, thinking of self before the most important ones.......our military. Now why would mothers hate you? I for one do not want a President that puts his own self first. "I think that‘s wrong. Humvees -- 10,000 out of 12,000 Humvees that are over there aren‘t armored. And you go visit some of those kids in the hospitals today who were maimed because they don‘t have the armament." For anyone with any intelligence and literacy, go to the government records to view your votes in the Senate the last 20 years. You are one of the very Senators that voted against all of this. You are one of the Senators that voted against the 87 million...........this is the biggest flip-flop of all!!!! YOU are one of the primary ones responsible for all the deaths of our young men in the war on terror. The National Journal, which rates the strength of Congressmen on National Defense, gave you a 0, on a possible scale of 100%. "I think we need a president who has the credibility to bring the allies back to the table and to do what‘s necessary to make it so America isn‘t doing this alone." As you did when you met with the Viet Cong in Paris????????? I do not call that credibility. I call that Benedict Arnold. Seems like Benedict thought he could lead this country better too. "First of all, what kind of mixed message does it send when you have $500 million going over to Iraq to put police officers in the streets of Iraq, and the president is cutting the COPS program in America? What kind of message does it send to be sending money to open firehouses in Iraq, but we‘re shutting firehouses who are the first- responders here in America." Hmmmmmmmm.....let's see.....I believe there was money appropriated for the rebuilding and restructuring of Iraq. Would not fire stations and police stations be part of the rebuilding of Iraq?? Is your suggestion that the Iraqi's should let their country burn down, let crime run totally rampant, have no local authority to assist in the fighting of everyday crime??? The money to restructure is all one package; it was not taken from our police and firemen to give to the Iraqi's. Just one more example of another one of your weaknesses, and the tendency to say what you think people will want to hear. "You know, it‘s interesting. When I was in a rope line just the other day, coming out here from Wisconsin, a couple of young returnees were in the line, one active duty, one from the Guard. And they both looked at me and said: We need you. You‘ve got to help us over there." I don't know who your talking to, but all the boys in my area of the country that are sent home, are ready, willing, and able to go back. They are asking to go back because they believe in our President and they believe in what they are doing. Do not classify two soldiers that you talked to, as representative of all soldiers, and that is what you were implying. In addition, I will add testimony from Congressman Turner of Ohio. “Mr. TURNER of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, when I am asked this back at home about the issue of morale of our troops, I always tell everyone there are two components of morale. One is are you sure of your purpose? Two, do you want to come home? "Everyone I met with, of course, wanted to come home and had very compelling stories of the sacrifice they were making in being away from their families. But everyone was absolutely sure of their purpose, not just for the liberation of Iraq but for the absolute nexus of their work for their safety of the United States. They know they are on the front lines of the war on terror and the war on terrorism. They know the efforts they are doing is making America safer.” Every one of them when I asked about their commitment to being in Iraq, their desire to stay and finish the job, were absolutely committed to this, and from that I would say their morale was very high because they were doing what they love, which is defending our country and advancing the freedom and the safety of our country. (House of Representatives, April 2004) "Almost every step of the way, our troops have been left on these extraordinarily difficult missions. I know what it‘s like to go out on one of those missions when you don‘t know what‘s around the corner." Another Vietnam innuendo. "And I believe our troops need other allies helping. I‘m going to hold that summit. I will bring fresh credibility, a new start, and we will get the job done right." You profess too much that there must be global involvement. We have allies involved. Your global involvement is reminiscent of the John Kerry of 1970. “ I’m an internationalist,” Kerry told The Crimson in 1970. “I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations. You recently were quoted on MSNBC news: “What we have to do is get the United Nations far more deeply involved in this. Iraq is not an American prize. This is not something that we possess to dispose of at our will. This is a country and we should behave accordingly with the United Nations. I’m all for Americans keeping command of the security component, but the nation building, the infrastructure, the civilian component, the humanitarian component belong in the shared authority of the United Nations.(MSNBC 9/9/03) "Well, you know, when I talked about the $87 billion, I made a mistake in how I talk about the war. But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?" "But it reflects the truth of the position, which is I thought to have the wealthiest people in America share the burden of paying for that war. It was a protest. Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted, and that's what I did," he said. (John Kerry on Good Morning America, 9/04). Which is worse??? You sold our boys out to protest? These are your words Senator. If you would sell our boys out, what would you do to the country?? Which is worse? Definitely, selling out the boys and selling out the country. I'll take the President's mistake. "I believe that when you know something‘s going wrong, you make it right. That‘s what I learned in Vietnam. When I came back from that war I saw that it was wrong. Some people don‘t like the fact that I stood up to say no, but I did. And that‘s what I did with that vote. And I‘m going to lead those troops to victory." VIETNAM again!! You made Vietnam right?? You killed 1000's of men in Vietnam with your protests. You sided with the communist regime and helped them win the war. So if THIS is what you learned, then I definitely would not trust you with Iraq, you would release Sadaam, and hand our boys over to him. "And what we need now is a president who understands how to bring these other countries together to recognize their stakes in this. They do have stakes in it. They‘ve always had stakes in it." They do not want to be in this. They have made that abundantly clear. You keep telling a lie when you say you will bring them in. They keep saying it does not matter if you are elected they still will not go in Iraq. Many of them did not go in the beginning because they were heavily involved in the Oil for Food scandal, particularly France. So obviously Senator, you do not UNDERSTAND. "Now, I would not. So what I‘m trying to do is just talk the truth to the American people and to the world. The truth is what good policy is based on. It‘s what leadership is based on." Wow, you set yourself up for this one. Now everyone in the country can find all the lies you have told over your 20-year senate record. We already know for a FACT that you lied about Christmas in Cambodia. However, Senator, this topic is a whole subject within itself, and too lengthy to discuss here. It is a subject of another letter. So, since you just said truth is good policy, and it is what leadership is based on, you justified why you should not be elected as President. Oh, you say you are honest??? Sign the form many of us have been asking you to sign about your Vietnam records. "North Korea has got nuclear weapons. Talk about mixed messages. The president is the one that said, “We can‘t allow countries to get nuclear weapons.” They have. I‘ll change that." Thanks to your good buddy Billy Boy Clinton, North Korea has nuclear weapons. I do believe you had a vote in that too. "And it reminds me that it is vital for us not to confuse the war, ever, with the warriors. That happened before." Oh yes it did, didn't it Senator. You keep bringing up Vietnam, why would you do that after all the whining and crying over the Swift Boat Vets??? You did confuse the war with the warriors. You killed many warriors left in Vietnam to do the job you managed to weasel yourself out of. 4 1/2 months of service in Vietnam, give me a break. My husband served 2 tours there Senator. Two tours were 2 full years, you know 48 months. You claim to be such an authority, and 4 1/2 months gave you the authority to come back home and confuse the war with the warriors and turn your back on them. Many were tortured because of you confusing the war with the warrior. I do not want that to ever happen again, and you are trying to do that to our boys in Iraq. You just said it. "The time line that I‘ve set out—and again, I want to correct the president, because he‘s misled again this evening on what I‘ve said. I did not say I would bring troops out in six months. I said, if we do the things that I‘ve set out and we are successful, we could begin to draw the troops down in six months." Oops, did we just tell a lie?? Your quote from the AP: “Kerry told his audience that, if elected, his goal would be to withdraw all U.S. forces within four years, beginning sometime next summer” .AP 9/20/04. I believe next summer would be six months from your inauguration Senator. "But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you‘re doing what you‘re doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons." When it comes to the safety of this country Senator, I want, and I am sure I speak for many Americans, someone that will take action right at the moment to protect me. I do not want anyone waiting for "global approval", as far as I'm concerned the global community can stick it where the sun don't shine. I want my children and grandchildren protected ASAP!!!! You are an internationalist Senator, as you said yourself. I think you would do better running for election in France, God knows they could use a stronger leader than they have in Chirac. "You don‘t help yourself when you refuse to deal at length with the United Nations." The United Nations is funded primarily by the United States and Japan. The United Nations would collapse without these monies. The United Nations on a daily basis has reports of corruption. Why should Americans have to deal at length with the United Nations when it comes to our security. We should not! Our tax dollars keep them going. We are giving them enough. "Both. I want bilateral talks which put all of the issues, from the armistice of 1952, the economic issues, the human rights issues, the artillery disposal issues, the DMZ issues and the nuclear issues on the table." BIG FLIP FLOP! The President did try to involve the UN. He tried to give Saddam time to adhere to the 16 UN resolutions. There were multilateral talks before we went to Iraq. This is what you said there should be at all times, all through your comments in the debate. Now you flip flop when it comes to North Korea. President Bush said it all. “September the 11th changed how America must look at the world. And since that day, our nation has been on a multi-pronged strategy to keep our country safer.” Our President acted strongly, as he should have to 9-11. We as Americans expected this to happen. Over 90% of the population supported him in his actions to get all terrorists. He told us it would be a long battle to fight terrorism all over the world. While the 9-11 commission may not have been able to prove a direct connection to 9-11, Saddam Hussein is a terrorist, and given time to build himself up, as Bin Laden was given would have meant an inevitable attack against us. One of his scientists this week in America, told everyone on National television that Saddam had the ability and equipment to do this very thing. Why wouldn’t you believe him? He has no reason to lie. Summing up what President Bush said, “Please join us in Iraq. We‘re a grand diversion. Join us for a war that is the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time?” You sent this message to your so-called international body. You had better believe they read the newspapers, watched the satellite, and heard every insult you handed them Thursday night. When you throw an insult Senator, it is one that is not easily forgotten or easily forgiven. You should have learned that from the Swift Boat Vets. I have absolutely no confidence that you could possibly form a world coalition because of the insults you have handed out. I have no confidence in you. |
