Kerry Envisions No More U.S. Troops for Iraq

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040801/us_nm/campaign_kerry_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1480


<snip>

Despite some clamor among Democrats for an accelerated U.S. military withdrawal, Kerry said Washington must stay the course but asserted he could do a better job of convincing foreign leaders to help with security and reconstruction in Iraq.


The Massachusetts senator, who voted for the congressional resolution authorizing Bush to use force to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said Bush misled Americans.


"Everybody knows that just saying that there are weapons of mass destruction didn't make it so," he said on the CBS program "Face the Nation."


"Just saying you could fight a war on the cheap didn't make it so. Ignoring the advice of generals as to how many troops we needed didn't make our troops safer who were there."

[jpgray]

1. Well, it's a start. From Nov. 3rd on everybody call or mail him (nt)

[jmcgowanjm]

2. What Kerry has to look forward to w/ current approach

20 Jan 69 - "The greatest honor history can bestow is the tittle
of 'peacemaker'. . . after a period of confrontation we are
entering an era of negotiation." President Richard Nixon
during his Inaugural Address

Mid-69 - President Nixon abandoned the idea of a
"purely
military victory", started bringing US troops home, and talked
of
a "Vietnamization" program to prepare the S. Vietnamese
to
take over the US combat role. Withdrawals announced:
8
Jun - 25,000 and 16 Sep - 35,000

President Nixon says United States forces will be
reduced
to 39,000 by Sept. 1. He adds that no more draftees will
be
sent to Vietnam unless they volunteer for duty
there.

http://www.landscaper.net/timelin.htm

July 1972

The siege of An Loc ends as-the Vietcong retreat.

The White House and the North
Vietnamese
Government announce that Henry A. Kissinger
conferred
secretly in Paris with Hanoi negotiators.

August 1972

B-52 bombings are reported in the North.

The last United States ground combat troops are
deactivated and prepare to leave Vietnam.

President Nixon says United States forces in South
Vietnam
will be reduced to 27,000 men by Dec. 1.

http://www.1stmarinedivisionassociation.org/operation-battles-folder/chronology-72.htm

(Will Kerry have as much time as Nixon?
How can we attack either Sudan or Iran while we're
evacuating Iraq?)

[aneerkoinos]

3. Just saying

Just saying "he could do a better job of convincing foreign leaders to help with security and reconstruction in Iraq" don't make it so.