John F. Kerry

John F. Kerry's open letter to the world. Let the fisking begin.

"The Bush administration is courting disaster with its current course - a course with no realistic strategy for reducing the risks to our soldiers and increasing the odds for success."

I guess training Iraqis to do the work our soldiers do is not a "realistic strategy for reducing the risks to our soldiers". Of course, I do not know if that would increase our odds for success, but I sure as hell know that it reduces the risks to our soldiers.

"The reality is that the Bush administration's choices have made Iraq into what it wasn't before the war - a breeding ground for jihadists. Today there are 16,000 to 20,000 jihadists and the number is growing."

I doubt that. First Iraq cannot be considered a breeding ground when many of those "jihadists" were not born and raised in Iraq. Secondly, he must not have read reports of Red-on-Red action (and that is not racist American Indian porn, that is the enemy fighting the enemy). That alone would keep the number from growing.

"Our mission in Iraq is harder because the administration ignored the advice of others, went in largely alone, underestimated the likelihood and power of the insurgency, sent in too few troops to secure the country, destroyed the Iraqi army through de-Baathification, failed to secure ammunition dumps, refused to recognize the urgency of training Iraqi security forces and did no postwar planning. A little humility would go a long way - coupled with a strategy to succeed."

Same sort of talk that lost him the election in the first place.

"The president must also announce immediately that the United States will not have a permanent military presence in Iraq. Erasing suspicions that the occupation is indefinite is critical to eroding support for the insurgency."

Hmmm...I would have thought that if you pointed out that we have had military bases in South Korea for nearly half a century and that we are not leaving that maybe they would just give up. Secondly, I really do not have a problem with having a "permanent military" presence in Iraq. They border Iran, an irate nuclear power, kind of like North Korea. We can just close some bases in the US, Europe, and move them to Iraq where they can actually do some good.

"We're doing our part: our huge military presence stands between the Iraqi people and chaos, and our special forces protect Iraqi leaders."

Wait, I thought you said we did not have enough troops in Iraq. You did, in THIS article. I quote, "...sent in too few troops to secure the country...” We have probably about the same or maybe a little bit less troops in Iraq than when we took the place over. This is not counting the Iraqis that have trained and which we have added to the resource pool. If anything it is the Iraqis themselves who stand between their selves and chaos, not us.

"If Iraqis adopt a constitution and hold elections as planned, support for the insurgency should fall and Iraqi security forces should be able to take on more responsibility. It will also set the stage for American forces to begin to come home."

What of this have we not done? They only part we are missing is the constitution, we have already had elections. So bush is already doing what Kerry is suggesting.... odd

"The administration must work with the Iraqi government to establish a multinational force to help protect its borders. Such a force, if sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, could attract participation by Iraq's neighbors and countries like India."

So now Iraq should ask the UN for help. The UN could have helped anywhere from 1980 to present if it wanted to, but did not.

"The deployment of capable security forces is critical, but it alone will not end the insurgency, as the administration would have us believe. Hamstrung by its earlier lack of planning and overly optimistic predictions for rebuilding Iraq, the administration has failed to devote equal attention to working with the Iraqi government on the economic and political fronts. Consequently, reconstruction is lagging even in the relatively secure Shiite south and Kurdish north. If Iraqis, particularly Sunnis who fear being disenfranchised, see electricity flowing, jobs being created, roads and sewers being rebuilt and a democratic government being formed, the allure of the insurgency will decrease."

I actually agree with the general idea of this statement. Though I think that it would be better to get the economy up and going and then fix the things as the Iraq government has the cash. It will cost us less in the long run and Iraq will be stronger because of it. Then again, certain things need to be rebuilt, especially the ones that we blew up.

via drudge

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