Kerry on Bush Defense of Failed Policies in Iraq, Afghanistan

[ProSense]

09/29/2006

Kerry on Bush Defense of Failed Policies in Iraq, Afghanistan

“Bob Woodward says the Administration is in a state of denial. It’s worse than that. The lying needs to end and the incompetents who gave us a Katrina foreign policy have to go. The Administration has a stand still and lose policy in Iraq which isn’t the center of the war on terror, and a cut and run policy in Afghanistan which is the center of the war on terror. The only clear thing about the president’s policy is that it’s clearly not working.

American troops are coming home without arms and legs, for a strategy our military and our leaders know won’t work, and a policy that worsens terrorism. The repetition of presidential platitudes in daily speeches only compounds the immorality of a policy that is reckless with young Americans’ lives, and leaves America’s moral authority in tatters.

We have seven times more troops in the crossfire of a civil war in Iraq, which our intelligence agencies confirm fuels terrorism, than we have in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda roams free. Rhetoric about providing money to rebuild Afghanistan is hollow from an Administration that has cut aid to Afghanistan by 30% this year, and even requested 67% less than that for next year. Even Don Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday we need more troops in Afghanistan, but President Bush remains stuck in a state of denial.

This administration cut and run from the truth, and every day this administration refuses to face reality is another day they play into the hands of the terrorists. President Bush needs to start telling the truth, and acting on it.”

[TayTay]

1. Long and interesting article in UK Observer

about an arms dealer whom John Kerry spoke about in 1992 in regards to Iran-Contra and international money-laudering.

'Prince of Marbella', arms dealer and possibly pure evil?

Monzer al-Kassar has been accused of arming Iraqis, the Contras and Somalian warlords and cleared of murder. He is on the 'most wanted' lists of several countries - but says his hands are clean

Aram Roston in Marbella
Sunday October 1, 2006
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1884810,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Over lunch at his estate in the south of Spain, 61-year-old Syrian arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar is a courteous host, insisting his guests take at least a taste from the platter of lamb with yoghurt, the stuffed grape leaves or the eggplant. Underneath the circular table, his ageing white poodle Yogui begs for scraps.

Kassar says he has retired from the arms business, but his name is ubiquitous in some of the key international scandals of the past three decades, from Somalia to Latin America.

He has been cited in a variety of crimes: drugs, illegal arms deals, terrorism - all of which he has denied. He has just been named by the Iraqi government as one of its most wanted men.

A US Senate report called him a 'drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker'. A United Nations report called him an 'international embargo buster'. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, has referred to him, on the floor of the US Senate, as a 'notorious terrorist'.

SNIP

1992 Senator John Kerry calls him a 'notorious terrorist'. Al-Kassar is detained at Madrid airport, coming from Vienna, where he had just closed an arms deal with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, violating a UN embargo. According to journalist Juan Gasparini, Al-Kassar's intentions were to move to Argentina and acquire citizenship illegally, with the help of a relative, former Argentine president Carlos Menem.

You know, Sen. Kerry really freakin knows what he's talking about when he talks about international crime and terrorism and the connection between them. I wish more people knew this before. More people need to know it now. It's also sad that newspaper in the UK know more about what Sen. Kerry has done than newspapers in this country. Very sad indeed.

[ProSense]

2. Thanks for this!

Great reading material. Time to catch up on the history!