Waffles On Fox News Sunday
WALLACE: Senator, let’s move on to Iraq as we enter the fifth year of this war. General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. forces there, says that his plan, the so-called troop surge, shows ” and he’s very cautious about it, but shows at least preliminary signs of working.
The Iraqis say the level of violence in Baghdad has dropped substantially during this first full month of the surge. Why not give the plan a chance to work?
KERRY: Chris, the plan is obviously getting its chance to work because the president has an opportunity to put it in place. That doesn’t mean it’s the right policy.
General Petraeus himself has said there is no military solution to this war. Now, if there is no military solution to this war, where is the political diplomatic solution?
I get really angry ” I mean, I heard about those four soldiers killed today, and I say to myself, as someone who remembers going out on patrols that sort of had a huge question mark over them, “What are we doing? What are these kids doing going out there and finding an IED the hard way? What has that accomplished?”
The fundamental problem of this war is between Sunni and Shia. Our troops cannot resolve that difference.
Now, in the first month or two months or three months of this escalation, sure, I expect the militia to melt into the background. I expect them to be very cautious about choosing where to engage.
And they will do what insurgents and militias traditionally do. They’ll watch where the troops go. They’ll learn their movements. They’ll find their weak points. And then they’ll probe and attack again. This will not change the fundamental dynamics.
And that’s why so many of us, 48 of us, voted to set a date to leverage the behavior of the Iraqis. We’re not trying to cut and leave it. We’re not trying to abandon it. That’s not a precipitous withdrawal. That’s a year from now. That will be the entering of the sixth year of this war.
It’s time for the Iraqis to assume responsibility for Iraq. And I’ve heard from experts in the region, from our own diplomats, that the only way to leverage the behavior we need from the Iraqis is to be firm and tough and clear about their need to compromise.
WALLACE: Senator, as you just pointed out, the Senate voted this week and rejected a plan, in part authored by you, by a vote of 48-50 to call to begin the pullout of troops and eventually to set of goal of pulling them out in a year. When you are still…
KERRY: No, Chris, that’s wrong. Can I interrupt you there? I’m going to interrupt you there.
WALLACE: Well, let me just ask the question and then you can set me straight on what I…
KERRY: Well, fine.
WALLACE: But in any case, you needed ” you were 12 votes short. You weren’t 3 votes short. You were 12 votes short of the 60 you would have needed to actually pass this.
When Democrats are still so short, so far away from passing something that will actually force the president’s hand, limit his policy, what do you do now?
KERRY: Well, actually, Chris, we’re 19 votes short because you need 67 to overcome the veto. And there would be a veto. We all understand that.
March 18, 2007 - 09:41 PM on March 18th, 2007
The Iraqis say the level of violence in Baghdad has dropped substantially during this first full month of the surge.
This cannot be allowed to happen! It might be working? Unthinkable! The Democrites regained Congress by convincing the sheeple, through every imaginable means of mischaracterization, undermining, and relentless MSM propaganda, that we have lost and must cut and run.
The apparent effect of this is just not good news for the Defeatocrats.
March 19, 2007 - 08:27 AM on March 19th, 2007
John Kerry is still a clueless nit wit:razz:
April 3, 2007 - 04:45 AM on April 3rd, 2007
Amdocs is blackmailing America’s “leaders.” That’s why they’re making such insane decisions: http://dinoberry.googlepages.com/home