I don't want to get political on this blog, and so I'm going to present this in as much of a "here are the facts" manner as I can. Additionally, since who the president is for the next four years has a great deal to do with my freedom to do what's right by my family, I'll indulge myself.
I post this link not to argue in any way that the war in Iraq was right, but merely to point out the following:
In 1997, Kerry believed Iraq was a threat, and that we should face it, unilaterally, if necessary, and the the United Nations had an obligation to prevent Saddam from furthering a WMD program. This sounds a bit different from his harsh criticism of what he calls Bush's "go it alone" policy, and from his statements that he would have involved the U.N. more.
In September 2001, he refered to evidence that Saddam has attempted to secure and test WMDs. Along with the rest of the world, he thought Saddam had them.
In December 2001, he refered to Saddam Hussein as an enemy in the War on Terror. Should we then accuse Kerry of taking advantage of our nation's anger and squandering the good will that other countries had towards after 9/11?
The actual website has the exact quotes and where they're pulled from, along with many other inconsistencies in Kerry's Iraq message.
Again, I'm not arguing that the war to take down Saddam was right. To be honest, I initially thought that it was a just endeavor, but now I believe it probably was not. I'll admit that.
I simply want to point out that any time you hear Kerry slam Bush for the war, remember this, and wonder what he actually would have done differently. I don't know what John Kerry would have done in the same situation but to hear him try and use 20/20 hindsight to criticize Bush when Kerry himself called Saddam an enemy in the war on terror tells you something.
The biggest thing I would fault W. on is his handling of the war. However, I think a lot of C in Cs in the same situation would have acted in a similar fashion.
I understand that most Kerry supporters will be unfazed by these points. My point is for those those who ordinarily support Bush, but are disullisioned by a war that has been wrought with so many tragedies and scandals. I think it should be very persuasive to see how much of Bush's rhetoric Kerry actually supported until he became a presidential candidate.
I have a lot of other reasons not to like John Kerry, but I won't get into them. I post this because it seems that his rhetoric against Bush's decisions with regards to Iraq seem to be winning him points, and I think it is because he is pulling the wool over a lot of people's eyes as to how he would have led our country at that time.
