Combat-sharpened Kerry can correct course of U.S.

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0204a/27endorse.html

Particular moments in history demand leaders of a particular background and character.

This is U.S. Sen. John Kerry's moment.

At this point in their history, his party and his country require battle-hardened leadership, someone experienced in the challenges of world affairs and the complexities of a global economy. They require a leader who is capable of fighting hard on behalf of the country and summoning it to honor its true ideals. Kerry is uniquely qualified to meet that test.

Kerry has never shied from duty or hardship. As a young Yale graduate with other options open to him, Kerry took a course that most others like him did not, and volunteered to serve in Vietnam. Once in uniform, he volunteered again to serve in a combat role in which he demonstrated considerable bravery and coolness under fire.

That service also forced Kerry to confront the futility and shaky moral foundation of a war that would eventually claim more than 50,000 American lives and leave many thousands more with physical and psychic scars. Upon his return to this nation, Kerry again made the difficult choice to serve his country, this time by speaking about his Vietnam experience to a nation not yet ready to hear it. Some of what he told the country back then about the reality of the Vietnam War was highly controversial, but almost all of it has been vindicated by the passage of time.

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[xray s]

1. whoa

It sounds to me that the AJC will endorse Kerry in the GE as well.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Kerry said he is not pulling the troops out of Iraq

this sounds like an Iraqi version of Vietnamization!

[Old and In the Way]

3. Bush broke it. We need to fix it.

Do you really think full blwon anarchy leading to a theorcratic reactionary government is fair to the people of Iraq? I don't.

[Padraig18]

4. I agree.

We broke it, we bought it.

[eridani]

10. But we can't keep it

Our policy has been the utter destruction of secular democracy in the Middle East ever since the overthrow of Mossadegh in 1954 in Iran. We have forced rebellion in to the Islamist mode, and have no alternative but to let it blow itself out. Military suppression just makes it worse, like water on an electrical fire.

There is plenty of opposition to theocracy in Iran, and I think they'll win out eventually when the old Ayatollah farts die off. That is the opinion of Shirin Ebadi, feminist human rights lawyer and Nobel laureate. She absolutely, unequivocally does not want US military 'help' in this struggle. I mean really, people, exactly what part of FUCK OFF!! WE'D RATHER DO IT OURSELVES!! is it that you don't understand?

In a real election, the Shi'ites will win. If we don't let it happen, the place will blow up in a way that makes Sunni resistance piddling by comparison. I think that Iraqi versions of Ebadi will eventually rise up and win out, and that the way to help them is through NGOs, not military force.

[sandnsea]

11. So you know

I've had Iranians come to the Kerry forum who WANT our help, NOW. It really isn't useful to assume far-left views are the only correct views. You know the old assume thing...

[eridani]

12. I'll believe the Nobel prizewinner, myself n/t

[IndianaGreen]

7. Vietnamization did not work in Vietnam, and is not going to work in Iraq

Kerry should have known better than to embrace failed policies from the past that resulted in many casualties on both sides of the Vietnam conflict.

Let Iraq be ruled by Iraqis. The only thing you will accomplish by trying to salvage something out of Iraq is to add more names to a future war memorial.

[eridani]

8. Just like a bull can fix a china shop by staying in it

as long as possible. While we're indulging in this line of reasoning, I'll give you my Leatherman tool to make a new pair of pants for me. Wanna try it?

[Old and In the Way]

5. Since Bush can't run on anything other than "War on Terror",

John Kerry is our best candidate to beat him at this game. Let Bush try to run as a "war President", JK has the real resume to prove who the real warrior-leader is.

[Zynx]

6. I think this is a flawed premise.

I have never seen any evidence that combat experience makes anyone a more capable political leader. This is a consistent position I have had for about eight years.

[Rose Siding]

9. Fawning over militarism is all the rage.

The advantage it *might* lend is if elected, should the WH be rushed by guerillas bearing 1960's weaponry, Kerry would be familiar with it.

[frustrated_lefty]

13. Oh, jesus

if I have to listen to commercials like this crap I am going to be sick. Just point out the lever to pull and spare me the mountains of bullshit. Rah, Rah, Kerry....no, I was hallucinating, it's ABB. I'd vote for a freaking cumquat. Just don't pour out nonsense about how enlightened the cumquat is.