Kerry: U.S. Needs to 'Wipe Slate Clean' on Iraq

[Blackaxe]

RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said on Saturday the United States needed to start with a clean slate on Iraq and his new running mate John Edwards portrayed America's allies as "hungry" for better ties with Washington.

In a joint interview aboard their campaign plane, Kerry acknowledged that he and his vice-presidential pick -- a former rival for the Democratic nomination -- had had one "legitimate difference" over trade, but that "we're very much in the same place now."

And, although he said he would not "talk down" the U.S. economy, Kerry declined to characterize the current uptick in employment numbers and other indicators as a genuine recovery.

"For the average worker in America, there's not only not a recovery, there's a wage recession," he said as the duo flew to North Carolina to celebrate the new Democratic ticket at a rally in Edwards' hometown.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&ncid=696&e=2&u=/nm/20040710/pl_nm/campaign_kerry_dc

[NMDemDist2]

1. read and rated thanks n/t

[acmavm]

3. Rating is only 2.04. This story needs to be kept in the spotlight,

Obviously the freepers are rating it a 1 since there's been 135 votes.

[maddezmom]

15. 2.49 now...keep rating it :)

You have given the news article Kerry: U.S. Needs to 'Wipe Slate Clean' on Iraq a rating of 5.
Its current average rating is 2.49 with 294 vote(s)

[wtmusic]

2. An excellent way to wipe the slate clean

would be to support the ICC in filing war crimes against Junior

[Chicago Democrat]

8. Hey Great minds think alike!!!

Blessings to you sir!

[Concordance]

4. Kerry is hilarious...

Yeah, those Iraqis going to just forget 10,000s of casualties. I can just imagine Omar the Average Iraqi saying: "Yes, Americans killed my wife, daughter and two sons, but I love America now that Kerry is president!" Pffft!


Oh, yeah, real plausible! >>>sarcasm off

[Dr Fate]

5. Except Kerry's plan does not reflect that.

If you bothered to give his platform a look- he constantly stresses the need to "take the American face off of the Iraq occupation."

Your overall point is valid- it will be hard meding up Iraq, and mending our ties with our FORMER allies- but I think Kerry can do it.

[Concordance]

6. You just said it....

You just said it yourself, "take the American face off of the Iraq occupation". Take the face away, but everything else remains. Do you understand what he actually means with that?! This operation is 100% American. I mean he even says this publicly! It's really interesting he is not afraid to say that openly, on the international scene that is. What it means is, he thinks there is nothing wrong with it.

You know, Kerry... Iraqis got TVs too.

[Dr Fate]

9. As I said, you need to pay attention to what he says...

...he wants a REAL coalition, and NATO & UN involvement-not just the US.

You are putting words in his mouth & mine.

And it will be an occupation, at least until we can get back some stability over there.

I was against going over there in the 1st place- but I KNOW Kerry has a better chance of fixing this mess than Bush.

[demoman123]

16. Kerry's 'Internationalization' is just pie in the sky.

(a) Other nations won't get involved beyond token participation. (b) Those that do get involved will have their forces attacked just as US forces are attacked (witness the Italians, Spaniards, Japanese, Koreans, Jordanians, et al.). The insurgents want all Westerners out.

[Dr Fate]

18. That's your crystal ball.

I'm not so sure. No one has yet to convince me that abandoning Iraq is a good idea. But hey, I could be wrong.

Bush Sr. did that in Afghanistan, and we all know what happened there.

[Chicago Democrat]

7. I think they might forgive us if the new administration takes a real

look at war crimes....

Do you expect Kerry to say this? No he wont. But on January 20, 2005 lets all start screaming for it. If that happened, the world WOULD FORGIVE. Iraq too.

May Allah richly bless John Kerry.

[Concordance]

10. Very doubtful....

So far Kerry has shown no interest in the conduct of American troops. In fact I never heard him even mention Iraqi casualties and the true damage invasion has done to the Iraqi infrastructure. He has said little or nothing about Abu Ghraib, anything of substance that is. He has said nothing about daily abuses Iraqis go at the hands of American soldiers. He doesn't even mention any of these things anymore, not that he has mentioned them much in the past. No, the world and Iraqis are not that gullible. They see Kerry same way they see Bush, as another shady American politician with questionable motives.

[Chicago Democrat]

13. I'm an optimist... BTW Welcome to DU! Concordance!

I am an antiquarian and Concordia is my favorite Roman personification. On ancient coins Concordia is shown as two hands shaking.

Kerry is staying positive and basically not trying to be controversial. This election is HIS to loose. I have never been so confident. I want you to try to understand that Kerry is pandering to the center right now... The left and the right are already energised; its the people who have absolutely no clue..the muddled middle. The people who have been lied to so much they have no idea what is going on, they just sense something is wrong. Those are the people he is trying to reach.

[NNN0LHI]

14. You said it well CD n/t

[daleo]

11. I wish I was more optimistic about Kerry in regards to Iraq

I think he and the rest of the world have one more hard lesson to learn, and then perhaps he will decide to get out. The good thing, potentially, is that Iraq isn't his personal fiasco like it is with Bush, so he might acknowledge the futility much quicker and leave.

I don't think Iraqis will be any more receptive to U.N. troops, and certainly not to NATO. If anything, NATO troops would make things worse, as then it would resemble a "clash of civilizations", not just a one-off mad endeavor by a crazed American president (Bush, I mean).

[0007]

12. I agree!

But everything is just in a wait and see mode now.

[Disturbed]

17. Many months away.

Who knows what Iraq will be like in Jan. '05? If J. Kerry and J. Edwards win it will be some time before they can make decisions. For now we won't know what they would do or not do. I don't think they can know for sure either.

[Swamp Rat]

19. If Kerry wants a tabula rasa, he'll need to frog march to the Hague

the entire Bush cabal. Then, perhaps maybe, the world (and ME) will BEGIN to forgive America.