Reply #64: ...... [View All]

[Goldeneye]

Why did Kerry say on August 9, 2004 that he would still have voted for the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq if he knew what he knows now?

The resolution was not a vote to go to war (see first question above). Kerry did not say that he would have invaded Iraq even if he knew no WMDs would be found. He only said that he would have voted to affirm the president's authority to handle the situation. While George Bush attempted once again to spin this as a statement that Kerry would have handled things the same way he had, that is not even remotely what Kerry said. Kerry was simply, and clearly, reaffirming his unchanged position on granting the President authority in that situation. John Kerry has never changed his position on whether it was correct to affirm the President's authority to take action to defend the nation. Nor has he changed his position on whether he would have handled the situation differently.

"Yes, I would have voted for the authority . I believe it's the right authority for a president to have. But I would have used that authority as I have said throughout this campaign, effectively. I would have done this very differently from the way President Bush has.

"And my question to President Bush is, Why did he rush to war without a plan to win the peace? Why did he rush to war on faulty intelligence and not do the hard work necessary to give America the truth? Why did he mislead America about how he would go to war? Why has he not brought other countries to the table in order to support American troops in the way that we deserve and relieve a pressure from the American people?" — John Kerry, August 9, 2004

"I voted to hold Saddam Hussein accountable, because, had I been president, I would have wanted that authority, because that was the way to enforce the U.N. resolutions and be tough with the prospect of his development of weapons of mass destruction. But the president said he would go to war as a last resort. The president said he would exhaust the remedies of the U.N. The president said he would build a legitimate international coalition.

"And here we are, several years later, having made an end-run around the United Nations, alienated our allies, put our soldiers at greater risk than they needed to be, asked the American people to pay almost $200 billion, because we didn't have the patience, we didn't have the maturity to exhaust the remedies available to us and truly build that coalition and understand the nature of the threat." — John Kerry, Unity Conference, August 5, 2004

http://www.kerryoniraqwar.com/