How would John Kerry have handled Iraq differently than George Bush?

Kerry would not have unnecessarily taken the nation to war or made the other mistakes that came with the headlong rush to war. While Kerry took the problem of Saddam Hussein very seriously, he consistently advocated building alliances and putting pressure on Hussein, using military force only if needed and only when the time was right. He affirmed that the U.S. has a right to defend itself without waiting for approval from allies, but also that the best course of action, in order to safeguard American lives and reduce the burden on American taxpayers, was to make every effort to act in concert with allies. Kerry has been clear and consistent on this from the very beginning.

"The United States should never go to war because it wants to; the United States should go to war because we have to. And we don't have to until we have exhausted the remedies available, built legitimacy and earned the consent of the American people, absent, of course, an imminent threat requiring urgent action." — John Kerry address at Georgetown University, January 24, 2003

"I voted to hold Saddam Hussein accountable, because, had I been president, I would have wanted that authority, because that was the way to enforce the U.N. resolutions and be tough with the prospect of his development of weapons of mass destruction. But the president said he would go to war as a last resort. The president said he would exhaust the remedies of the U.N. The president said he would build a legitimate international coalition." — John Kerry address to Unity conference, August 5, 2004

John Kerry argues that President Bush has mishandled Iraq in many ways (this is only a partial list):

• He rushed to war unnecessarily, ordering out the weapons inspectors in order to launch an invasion
• He alienated our allies, squandering the goodwill the world accorded us after 9/11
• With his go-it-alone approach , he needlessly endangered American lives and placed more of a burden on American taxpayers
• He went to war "on the cheap," with insufficient manpower and without necessary equipment such as body armor
• He ignored the advice of military advisers such as General Shinseki, who said more troops would be needed
• He went without a plan to win the peace or rebuild Iraq
• He made cronyism (special favors for companies like Halliburton) a high priority, instead of helping Iraqis get on their feet economically; this has helped to make Iraqis more desperate and angry against U.S. force
• He diverted resources from Afghanistan, where we had key Al Qaeda figures almost in our grasp, in order to bog down our troops in Iraq, which had no WMDs
• He spurned repeated offers of help from our allies, putting cronyism ahead of the need to bring in aid

"I would never have diverted resources so quickly from Afghanistan, where the Taliban has been forced from power but Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaida remain free. I wouldn't have ignored my senior military advisers. I would have made sure that every soldier put in harm's way had the equipment and body armor they needed. I would have built a strong, broad coalition of our allies around the world. And if there's one thing I learned from my service, I would never have gone to war without a plan to win the peace." — John Kerry, National Convention of the American Legion, August 31, 2004

Links:

• Kerry Blasts Bush for Iraq Policies, AP, September 1, 2004
• John Kerry's address to the National Convention of the American Legion, August 31, 2004
• John Kerry's address to the Unity Conference, August 5, 2004

www.kerryoniraqwar.com
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