Mr. Andrew Sullivan, please don’t spread misinformation.
Posted : September 28, 2004 at 10:15 pm [America/Los_Angeles]
Here’s what he says in his blog:
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To put it bluntly, I don’t believe Iraq is a “diversion” from the war on terror; I believe it’s the central front. If you share this view, Blair’s view, it’s extremely hard to support Kerry.
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Here’s what Senator Kerry actually said in his speech in NYU:
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That means we must have a great honest national debate on Iraq. The President claims it is the centerpiece of his war on terror. In fact, Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the terrorists.
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Mr. Sullivan, in 2003, invading Iraq was (not is) indeed a profound diversion from the ensuing “War on Terror” in Afghanistan and other parts of the world. If my memory serves me right, we had the Taliban, the Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden all on the run in Afghanistan and had just botched up the whole confrontation in Tora Bora. We could have finished what we had so brilliantly started. However, President Bush and his cabal chose to go after Iraq. It made no sense. The Administration knew it would be a tough sell. So, they started spreading highly exaggerated stories about WMDs and it being an “imminent” threat. Remember, Mr. Sullivan. In it’s justification back then, this Administration did not portray it as “War on Terror”. Or maybe they did. Who knows? They gave plenty of reasons back then anyway.
And yes, today, thanks to President Bush’s mismanagement and mishandling, Iraq is indeed a ‘front’ on the War on Terror. A failed Iraq would be disastrous for the same reason a failed Afghanistan would be. Senator Kerry understands this and has no intention of ignoring Iraq in favor of Afghanistan or any other place for that matter.
As Sgt. 1st Class Larry Daniels aptly sums it up “The war on terror wasn’t in Iraq till we went there..We initially went there to topple Saddam (Hussein) and then all these damn terrorists came in.”
Ugh. I hate it when supposedly smart and sane people spread misinformation.
- Anand
Category: United (or not) State of American Politics 2004