“I was wrong. I apologize. Now let’s move on.” - A Speech for John Kerry

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat May-22-04 09:02 AM
Original message

“I was wrong. I apologize. Now let’s move on.” - A Speech for John Kerry

Published on Friday, May 21, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

“I was wrong. I apologize. Now let’s move on.” - A Speech for John Kerry

by Gerald Epstein

John Kerry’s vote for the Iraq War resolution has left him tongue tied on Iraq and his campaign in a state of paralysis. Here is a speech for Kerry to help move his campaign and our country past this deadly logjam:

My fellow Americans,

In the fall of 2002, like most of my fellow Senators, I voted in favor of the resolution giving George Bush the authority to invade Iraq. I did so in the belief that before invading Iraq, George Bush would establish that Iraq was a clear and present danger to America, that he would put together a true multinational coalition, and that, finally, he would exhaust all peaceful options.

I now realize that I was wrong. And, unlike George Bush, who can not think of any mistakes he has made since 911, much less apologize for them, I apologize to you, the American people for my error.

At the time that I voted for the resolution, I did not know that George Bush had been looking for an excuse to invade Iraq since even before he was inagurated President; that the Bush administration was lying about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that Bush’s own intelligence officers were doubtful about the case for WMD’s; that George Bush’s war plans did not include enough troops, enough body armor or enough tanks for our soldiers; that our brave men and women would have to write home to beg their families to send water and batteries, because our war planners had not taken the trouble to send them enough basic necessities; that George Bush and his advisors had no plans for what to do after the war was won because they believed that the Iraqis would throw flowers at our troops, when, instead, they threw rocket propelled grenades; I did not know that George Bush would sit back and let an Iraqi minority riot and loot, and thereby undermine the U.S. from the very first day of “victory”, or that Bush’s defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld believed at the time, that Iraqi’s, like teenagers, were just harmlessly sowing their wild oats; I did not know that in order to invade Iraq George Bush would secretly drain crucial resources away from our fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and not tell the Congress or American People about it; that George Bush had no exit strategy, no strategy for a real victory; far from it, that George Bush would say “bring ‘em on”, dangerously taunting the Iraqi insurgents to attack our troops, even though it would be they and not him, who would have to pay the terrible price; I did not know, that George Bush had no ability to hold prisoners in accordance with internationally acceptable standards, so that now, America’s claims to the moral high ground in Iraq are increasingly seen as hollow and hypocritical; I did not know the depths of the venality, incompetence and arrogance of this Administration, so I did not realize that this administration was about to lead our country into the biggest foreign policy blunder of a generation, if not a lifetime.

Perhaps I should have known. Certainly, there were plenty of critics, writing on the internet, marching in the streets, appearing on radio and TV, who predicted with uncanny accuracy, many of things that have now come to pass. Perhaps I was blinded, by my trust in our President, our Commander-in –Chief, when he told us that Iraq represented an imminent threat. I can see now, sadly, that, along with the American People, I was clearly wrong to place my trust in George Bush. Continues: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0521-12.htm