Kerry & Surrogates on Prisoner Abuse Scandal

[Adelante]

Prisoner scandal colors election fight

By DAVID ESPO
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON -- The abuse of Iraqi prisoners is the latest flashpoint in a political campaign full of them, with President Bush and Republicans rallying around Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld while Sen. John Kerry and Democrats depict the episode as evidence of a misguided postwar policy.

Rumsfeld "is doing a superb job," Bush said Monday in a visit to the Pentagon, the commander in chief speaking against a backdrop of streamers from military battles past. The Defense secretary is "courageously leading our nation in the war against terror," he added.

That's not how Kerry saw it as the prisoner abuse controversy flared last week. "The chain of command goes all the way to the Oval Office," said Bush's Democratic challenger, responding to Rumsfeld's statement that he took full responsibility.

Later, Kerry said the furor was the latest manifestation of a policy blunder by the administration. "Rumsfeld and company made huge miscalculations about what it would take and the numbers of killings and what was involved, even though many of us were saying at the time that it's not winning the war that's difficult, it's winning the peace," he said.

~snip~

Given the stakes in the presidential race, surrogates swiftly joined the debate.

"The issues at stake here go to the very heart of the American mission in Iraq," said retired Gen. Wesley Clark, tapped to deliver the Democratic response to Bush's weekly radio address. "... This is a mission in trouble," he added.

~more~

Source: AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/10/04

[sandnsea]

1. kick

:kick:

[IndianaGreen]

2. "it's not winning the war that's difficult, it's winning the peace"

Later, Kerry said the furor was the latest manifestation of a policy blunder by the administration. "Rumsfeld and company made huge miscalculations about what it would take and the numbers of killings and what was involved, even though many of us were saying at the time that it's not winning the war that's difficult, it's winning the peace," he said.

According to this statement can we infer that Kerry supported going to war? An illegal and criminal war?

Screw the war AND the American-dictated "peace"!

The invasion of Iraq was the legal and moral equivalent of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939. How can anyone expect that a criminal war would lead to anything other than criminal behaviour from the occupation armies against the people they pretended to "liberate."

Colonial powers deserve nothing but defeat and the scorn of the civilized world. We lost Iraq as the French lost Algeria. The only issue that remains is how soon can our politicians tell the truth to the American people and call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all US troops and personnel from Iraq.

[David Zephyr]

3. I Agree: "We Lost Iraq". It's Over.

The United States has nothing now to offer in any role whatsoever with regards to the future of Iraq...and quite possibly the entire Middle East.

We lost.