Kerry's flip-flop on democracy for Iraq
Washington Post Editorial:
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"Mr. Kerry contends that he has not shifted his public position. But there are major differences between what he said in December -- right after Saddam Hussein's capture, when Mr. Kerry was seeking to discredit dovish Democratic challenger Howard Dean -- and his remarks last week, which followed several weeks of bad news from Iraq and growing public disenchantment with the course of the war. Where once he named democracy as a task to be completed, and the alternative to 'cutting and running' or a 'false success,' Mr. Kerry now says democracy is optional. Where once he warned against setting the conditions for an early but irresponsible withdrawal of U.S. forces, now he does so himself by defining the exit standard as 'stability,' a term that could describe Saudi Arabia or Iran -- or the Iraq of Saddam Hussein.
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"Mr. Kerry now argues that there is a third option. But what would that be? 'I can't tell you what it's going to be,' he said to reporters covering his campaign. 'That stability can take several forms.' True; in the Middle East, there is the stability of Islamic dictatorship, the stability of military dictatorship and the stability of monarchical dictatorship. In Lebanon, there is the stability of permanent foreign occupation and de facto ethnic partition. None is in the interest of the United States; all have helped create the extremism and terrorism against which this nation is now at war."
Washington Post Editorial:
...
"Mr. Kerry contends that he has not shifted his public position. But there are major differences between what he said in December -- right after Saddam Hussein's capture, when Mr. Kerry was seeking to discredit dovish Democratic challenger Howard Dean -- and his remarks last week, which followed several weeks of bad news from Iraq and growing public disenchantment with the course of the war. Where once he named democracy as a task to be completed, and the alternative to 'cutting and running' or a 'false success,' Mr. Kerry now says democracy is optional. Where once he warned against setting the conditions for an early but irresponsible withdrawal of U.S. forces, now he does so himself by defining the exit standard as 'stability,' a term that could describe Saudi Arabia or Iran -- or the Iraq of Saddam Hussein.
...
"Mr. Kerry now argues that there is a third option. But what would that be? 'I can't tell you what it's going to be,' he said to reporters covering his campaign. 'That stability can take several forms.' True; in the Middle East, there is the stability of Islamic dictatorship, the stability of military dictatorship and the stability of monarchical dictatorship. In Lebanon, there is the stability of permanent foreign occupation and de facto ethnic partition. None is in the interest of the United States; all have helped create the extremism and terrorism against which this nation is now at war."
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