This will never hit the right-wing press: Kerry in Baghdad

[techweenie]

Kerry cheered in Baghdad, decries Bush team's 'blunders'
Once criticized for war stance, he says force alone won't win

Borzou Daragahi, Chronicle Foreign Service

Thursday, January 6, 2005

Baghdad -- Sen. John Kerry, whose seemingly shifting positions on the U.S. war in Iraq plagued him throughout his presidential campaign, came to this war- torn capital Wednesday to see for himself whether the country was moving toward stability or deeper into chaos.

Kerry, who repeatedly charged during the presidential campaign that President Bush had botched the war effort, was greeted warmly by U.S. soldiers in Baghdad.

"I've been visiting a lot places like Des Moines and Green Bay, and it has been great," the Massachusetts Democrat said during an informal lunch meeting with a small group of reporters and representatives of nongovernmental organizations. "But we are at war, and I think you can't really make all the judgments that you need to make without digging in."

He declined to compare the growing insurgency with the one he faced in South Vietnam as a Navy gunship lieutenant more than three decades ago. But he insisted that superior firepower alone wouldn't quell the uprising disrupting Iraq.

"No insurgency is defeated by conventional military power alone," he said. "Look at the IRA," the Irish Republican Army, which fought a decadeslong guerrilla war against the British in Northern Ireland before a Catholic- Protestant power-sharing government was put in place. "It was defeated by a combination of time and political negotiation."

Kerry, who talked with U.S. intelligence officials and Iraqi officials on Wednesday, was also scheduled to meet with officials of the U.S. Embassy and with members of the interim Iraqi government, including interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and a deputy to Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite leader at the top of an electoral list favored in Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.

U.S. soldiers approached Kerry inside the restaurant of the Rashid Hotel, asking him to pose for photographs and sign T-shirts. The star-struck restaurant manager insisted on serving Kerry the restaurant's specialty, a plate of grilled chicken and lamb.

Later in the day, Kerry met with about 20 soldiers based in his home state, including reservists from the 356th Engineer Detachment and 126th Aviation Company of the Massachusetts Army National Guard at Camp Victory, where soldiers are bivouacked in luxury villas once inhabited by Saddam Hussein and his loyalists.

"They all joked about how living conditions had changed since Sen. Kerry was in Vietnam," said David Wade, the senator's communications director.

Kerry was scheduled to fly on a C-130 military transport plane today to visit troops in Fallujah and Mosul.

The senator said he was more interested in asking questions of soldiers, U.S. officials, Iraqis and even the journalists themselves instead of rehashing the political battles of the past campaign season.

But in several instances, Kerry attacked what he called the "horrendous judgments" and "unbelievable blunders" of the Bush administration. The mistakes, he said, included former U.S. occupation leader Paul Bremer's decisions to disband the Iraqi army and purge the government of former members of Hussein's Baath Party. Both moves are widely believed to have fueled the largely Sunni insurgency.

"What is sad about what's happening here now is that so much of it is a process of catching up from the enormous miscalculations and wrong judgments made in the beginning," he said. "And the job has been made enormously harder."

He added, however, that it was time to move forward.

"Mistakes have been made," he said. "Now, it's a different time and different set of judgments that have to be made. I'm here to make judgments about what moves are available to us."

Kerry is visiting Iraq as part of a Middle East tour that also includes meetings with leaders in Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He said success in Iraq was vital as part of the struggle for wider change in the Middle East.

"The stakes are very important, very high, and not just for Iraq," he said. "You have another election in the West Bank, a set of challenges to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the region that are quite daunting."

[bryanthompson]

They're just glad to see him as anything BUT president.

Won't hit much of any press. Nobody gives a crap about a wishywashy narccistic Senator at the end of his career.

[cegerer]

Standard fare: a liberal US citizen on foreign soil trashing the US. I guess he's gone back to what he does best .....

[red-beard]

But in several instances, Kerry attacked what he called the "horrendous judgments" and "unbelievable blunders" of the Bush administration. The mistakes, he said, included former U.S. occupation leader Paul Bremer's decisions to disband the Iraqi army and purge the government of former members of Hussein's Baath Party. Both moves are widely believed to have fueled the largely Sunni insurgency.

This is _standard_ liberal intelligencia doctrine. Keep the bad guys in power. Don't disband the Iraqi army or the Government. More inspections would have worked. Saddam wasn't really a problem, North Korea was. Bush caused the North Korean crisis. There is no Axis of Evil. etc etc etc.

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by red-beard
This is _standard_ liberal intelligencia doctrine. Keep the bad guys in power. Don't disband the Iraqi army or the Government. More inspections would have worked. Saddam wasn't really a problem, North Korea was. Bush caused the North Korean crisis. There is no Axis of Evil. etc etc etc.

How does this justify the horrible messups, blunders on the part of the Bush administration?

And more inspections WERE working! I know, I know you hate to hear that, but they really were working. The UN was there, inspecting, Saddam was destroying the weapons, etc.

Originally posted by cool_chick
The UN was there, inspecting, Saddam was destroying the weapons, etc.

Yeah, by burying them in the desert for later use.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by cool_chick
How does this justify the horrible messups, blunders on the part of the Bush administration?

And more inspections WERE working! I know, I know you hate to hear that, but they really were working. The UN was there, inspecting, Saddam was destroying the weapons, etc.

Uh - no they were not. Hence the "Oil for Food" program mess.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

You guys are soooooo entertaining, just precious!

Question (it has several parts and you need to connect several thoughts at once, so please do your best to follow along)


We said we'd be greeted as liberators (didn't happen)

We said that when the provisional government is formed, insurgent strikes would subside (didn't happen)

are you still with me?

We said that when we capture Sadam, insurgent strikes would subside (didn't happen)

we're almost there...

We are now saying (Fox reporting administration talking heads) that insurgent strikes will subside after the election at the end of the month.

Go back and reread if you must, I'll see if I can Photoshop a grid or something a little later, but here's the question:

What will you say when the insurgency get worse after the election? Who will you blame? When will you take responsibility for this mess?

Think about it, we spent (and I am really guessing here) probably $50 million to level Fallujah. Did it do any good? Did the insurgents just go somewhere else? Do 100,000 people now have nowhere to live? Are angry people who have nowhere to live

A. more likely to help the US
B. more likely to help the insurgents
C. prefer wet BBQ to dry rub

Since I know I will have to explain the last bit, it's to show the lunacy of this administration and those that support it and apologize for it.

Quick aside, we spent $50 million to level Fallujah, we first offered $15 million to help the survivors of the tsunami.

Very Christian of us.

[bryanthompson]

Waaa, waaaaa,

*snively crybaby voice* : but you guys said it'd all be over. why isn't it over yet? Are we there yet? Can I drive?

liberals are crybabies. War is yucky, leave it to those who know how to handle one, and it'll all be okay. Now go have your starbucks and everything'll be fine.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Waaa, waaaaa,

*snively crybaby voice* : but you guys said it'd all be over. why isn't it over yet? Are we there yet? Can I drive?

liberals are crybabies. War is yucky, leave it to those who know how to handle one, and it'll all be okay. Now go have your starbucks and everything'll be fine.

Bryan, that's not a response. C'mon man, you can do better than that and your team mates are counting on you. Right now they are just shaking their heads. YOU CAN DO IT! I know you can.

Listen, this administration has proven that it doesn't know how to handle the war in Iraq. if it did, it wouldn't be consistently wrong about the state of affairs and wouldn't keep making huge mistakes.

Now listen, go back and think about a better answer to my questions above. Take your time, write it down and really think man. We'll overlook that last bit, no worries here. We all make mistakes.

now hop to it!

[bryanthompson]

Sorry, i got lazy there.... there's no excuse for such ineptitude.

when I get off work, though... it's SOO on

[tabascobobcat]

Who's next to go make a photo shoot, Jesse Jackson ???

Jane Fonda.......

[Superman]

Guys, including and expecially Bryan. There seems to be approximately four intelligent posts here and if you guys have no way of responding appropriately, then perhaps you should just find some ultra-conservative cartoon to post intead. I'm sure you are excellent WWF fans, but maybe you should stay out of the area of political commentary.

Fact is, an amazing series of blunders have been made by your "president" and the violence there is getting worse each month. Elections are three weeks away. Give me a break. You've got one full major Iraqi city evacuated while we tear it up. When those people return and notice their doors have all been ripped off their homes and businesses.... And we're going to have legitimate elections there in three weeks?

This is going to make Viet Nam look like a victory parade. We're going to be there decades.

Meanwhile, America gets more deeply hated and terrorists get more recruits. Like I say, if you can't think of something intelligent to say, post a cartoon.

[tabascobobcat]

OK cartoon boy. Here is a fact. Over 50,000 Americans died in Vietnam. So when is the victory parade to begin ?? Great comparison. How many more recruits have signed up with the terrorists other than Madanna, M. Moore, Dixie Chicks,...... Lets see some facts, not just opinions. What was the chance of any kind of elections anywhere in the M-east 2 years ago ??

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by red-beard
Uh - no they were not. Hence the "Oil for Food" program mess.

LOL yes they were. Oh yes they were. Can't explain that fact away.....nice try though.....I'll give you that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nov. 8, 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously approves resolution 1441 imposing tough new arms inspections on Iraq and precise, unambiguous definitions of what constitutes a "material breach" of the resolution. Should Iraq violate the resolution, it faces "serious consequences," which the Security Council would then determine.

Nov. 18, 2002 - UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq, for the first time in almost four years.

Dec. 7, 2002 - Iraq submits a 12,000-page declaration on its chemical, biological and nuclear activities.

Jan. 16, 2003 - UN inspectors discover 11 empty chemical warheads in Iraq.

Feb. 14, 2003 - In a February UN report, chief UN inspector Hans Blix indicated that progress had been made in Iraq's cooperation.

Feb. 22, 2003 - Hans Blix orders Iraq to destroy its Al Samoud 2 missiles by March 1. The UN inspectors have determined that the missiles have an illegal range limit. Iraq can have missiles that reach neighboring countries, but not ones capable of reaching Israel.

March 1, 2003 - Iraq begins to destroy its Al Samoud missiles.

Feb. 24–March 14, 2003 - The U.S. and Britain's intense lobbying efforts among the other UN Security Council members yield only four supporters (in addition to the U.S. and Britain, Spain and Bulgaria); nine votes (and no vetoes from the five permanent members) out of fifteen are required for the resolution's passage. The U.S. decides not to call for a vote on the resolution.

guess all the other 11 countries were involved in the food-for-oil crap, huh?


March 17, 2003 - All diplomatic efforts cease when President Bush delivers an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave the country within 48 hours or else face an attack.

March 19, 2003 - The war against Iraq begins its initial air strike of the war attempted to target Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad

March 20, 2003 - The U.S. launches a second round of air strikes against Baghdad, and ground troops enter the country for the first time, crossing into southern Iraq from Kuwait. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims that the initial phase of the war is mild compared to what it to come: "What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and a scope and a scale that has been beyond what we have seen before."


------------------------------------------------------------

And the rest is history.

[fintstone]

This will never hit the right-wing press: Kerry in Baghdad

On the contrary, the right has indeed reported it and have all had a good laugh. From the Neal Boortz site:

The Poodle is in Iraq visiting the troops fighting the "wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Apparently he was not having the desired success undermining the war at home...so he has gone on the road to do so. Reminds me of his trips to Paris and an earlier war effort. He did say that this was "another Vietnam," didn't he? I am sure that his visit really builds morale. At least he can show them the techniques he perfected when he served in the military. Perhaps he will show the techniques for throwing their medals…or someone else’s medals over the white house wall…or better ways to protest against their own country. Or perhaps his techniques for reenacting battles and filming them in such a way that he looks like a hero for later political purposes….Better yet, he can show them how to turn a scratch into a purple heart until they get enough to get to go home…Best of all, he can remind them to never sign a release of their military record…because, without proof to the contrary…you are as much a hero as you claim to be.

Seriously, clearly JK is in Iraq to avoid the certification of election results in Washington. As you know, they needed one Senator to vote to contest them. Why not JK? How could anyone fault him for not being there when he is “visiting the troops.” It is sadly just an effort avoid being linked with the pitiful attempts to undermine the presidential election results by his colleagues in the house and to distance himself from the whiney nutcases in the house like Boxer and Lee so that he remains politically viable..

This article is just another sad attempt to undermine reports of the solid support that the President enjoys by the military as reflected in recent polls. Of course the troops gave Kerry a pleasant welcome. Unlike liberal Americans, they respect or are at least are polite to elected American officials. It is the right thing to do. Besides, they realize two things…A majority of the folks he represents in mass must have for some strange reason have voted for him to represent them in the senate…and that he helps control the purse stings that pay them and provide material for them to fight the war.

[fintstone]

Originally posted by Superman
Guys, including and expecially Bryan. There seems to be approximately four intelligent posts here .....

Clearly your threshold for "intelligent posts" is lower than that of the average person..

[tabascobobcat]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nov. 8, 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously approves resolution 1441 imposing tough new arms inspections on Iraq and precise, unambiguous definitions of what constitutes a "material breach" of the resolution. Should Iraq violate the resolution, it faces "serious consequences," which the Security Council would then determine.

Nov. 18, 2002 - UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq, for the first time in almost four years.

Dec. 7, 2002 - Iraq submits a 12,000-page declaration on its chemical, biological and nuclear activities.

Jan. 16, 2003 - UN inspectors discover 11 empty chemical warheads in Iraq.

Feb. 14, 2003 - In a February UN report, chief UN inspector Hans Blix indicated that progress had been made in Iraq's cooperation.

Feb. 22, 2003 - Hans Blix orders Iraq to destroy its Al Samoud 2 missiles by March 1. The UN inspectors have determined that the missiles have an illegal range limit. Iraq can have missiles that reach neighboring countries, but not ones capable of reaching Israel.

March 1, 2003 - Iraq begins to destroy its Al Samoud missiles.

Feb. 24–March 14, 2003 - The U.S. and Britain's intense lobbying efforts among the other UN Security Council members yield only four supporters (in addition to the U.S. and Britain, Spain and Bulgaria); nine votes (and no vetoes from the five permanent members) out of fifteen are required for the resolution's passage. The U.S. decides not to call for a vote on the resolution.

guess all the other 11 countries were involved in the food-for-oil crap, huh?


March 17, 2003 - All diplomatic efforts cease when President Bush delivers an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave the country within 48 hours or else face an attack.

March 19, 2003 - The war against Iraq begins its initial air strike of the war attempted to target Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad

March 20, 2003 - The U.S. launches a second round of air strikes against Baghdad, and ground troops enter the country for the first time, crossing into southern Iraq from Kuwait. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claims that the initial phase of the war is mild compared to what it to come: "What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and a scope and a scale that has been beyond what we have seen before."


------------------------------------------------------------

And the rest is history.


Why did you choose to show your history starting in 2002 ??
What about the prior 14 years of UN sanctions that he chose to ignore also ?? "And the Rest is History" What about the beginning ?? And the middle ??? And the 100's of thousands of people that were killed by Saddam before even the 1st Bush was in office ??? How soon we forget.