Kerry and the war
In an attempt to “revive his campaign,” Newsweek says Sen. John Kerry will focus almost exclusively on Iraq “by questioning Bush’s credibility on the conflict, his management of postwar Iraq and the no-bid contracts won by his veep’s old firm, Halliburton. Kerry is betting that the hard truths of Iraq will undercut Bush’s soft-focus picture of a liberated nation, and ultimately the president’s image as a war leader.
However, Kerry is no different on Iraq than Bush. Oh yes, Kerry does say he wants allies to help us fight the war. Uh huh, they’ll be standing in line to sacrifice their soldiers to clean up the mess the US made, you betcha.
Kerry has run into two problems of his own making, aides say: He voted to authorize the war in 2002, says today the war is wrong but will not take back his vote; and he has yet to detail a markedly different strategy than Bush’s for ending the conflict. This has allowed the president to argue — with great success, Democrats say — that Kerry and Bush basically agreed on the need to go to war and see eye to eye on how to get out.
That’s because they DO see eye to eye on Iraq. The Dems appear to think this is just some, oh, misperception that can be fixed by a clever new PR slant. “Kerry gets tough on war!” And his solution to the war is?
The war has cost way too many lives. It threatens to bankrupt the country. The US has lost allies everywhere because of it. The chances of terrorism here has increased, not decreased, as al Qaeda’s ranks swell with those furious at the US. The government of Saudi Arabia is wobbling. There’s a better than even chance that Iraq will end up being governed by those not friendly to the US.
The world is vastly more dangerous, and the US position more perilous because of this lunatic war that both Bush and Kerry favored. The ruling class wanted their war for empire, oil, and dominance, and they jolly well had it. Now it’s gone badly, very badly indeed. The blowback from the war affects the entire country. The budget deficit. The body bags. The polarization.
Much of the Left has this pipe dream that if Kerry is elected, the war will go away, and things will magically be peachy keen. Well, sorry, but that’s a hallucination.
Neither party has anyone of stature willing to genuinely oppose the war. So, whether it’s President Kerry or President Bush in 2005, Iraq policy won’t change.
Unless, of course, the people or events force them to.