Tell it like it is, Ralph
Nader asks for antiwar vote and urges Iraq pullout date
Ralph Nader made an explicit appeal on Monday for votes from the antiwar movement and called for the United States to announce a firm date for the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq.
Mr. Nader, running for president as an independent, said that President Bush was a “messianic militarist” and that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the probable Democratic presidential nominee, was “stuck in the Iraq quagmire the way Bush is.”
He suggested that perhaps the withdrawal date should be six months from now. Merely announcing “a date certain,” he said, would “separate the mainstream Iraqis from the insurgents.”
A most sensible idea. Defuse the rebellion by announcing a departure date. Avoid bloodshed. Possibly even leave Iraq with the respect of the world. But Operation Iraqi Liberation has never been sensible, has it?