M O N D A Y , O C T O B E R 0 4 , 2 0 0 4Kerry a Neocon?by Michael in New York on 10/04/2004 01:03:00 AMWilliam Safire tries to claim John Kerry has morphed into a neoconduring the election."First, on war-fighting in Iraq" writes Safire. "Hard-liners criticized theBush decision this spring not to send U.S. troops in to crush Sunniresistance in the Baathist stronghold in Falluja.</p><p> Our forces wanted tofight to win but soft-liners in Washington worried about the effect ofheavier civilian casualties on the hearts and minds of Iraqis, and ofU.S. troop losses on Americans."Kerry supports going in full-out and Safire claims this is somehowneocon.</p><p> Actually, it's called letting the military do its job and notcalling off assaults for political reasons. (Bush has overruled militaryactions the generals wanted to take in the field several times,presumably for fear of casualties.)Gee, think that not tying the military's hands with political concernsmight be something Kerry learned in Vietnam?"Next, to grand strategy," writes Safire. "Kerry was asked by JimLehrer, "What is your position on the whole concept of pre-emptivewar?" In the past, Kerry has given a safe never-say-never response,but last week he gave a Strangelovian answer: "The president alwayshas the right and always has had the right for pre-emptive strike." Hepledged never to cede "the right to pre-empt in any way necessary''to protect the U.S."But in embracing his right to pre-empt - always derided in horror bythe two-minutes-to-midnight crowd as impermissible "preventivewar" - Kerry felt the need to interject: "That was a great doctrinethroughout the cold war.</p><p> And it was one of the things we arguedabout with respect to arms control.""Safire argues that only Strangelove considered MAD (mutuallyassured destruction) as including preemptive strikes.</p><p> But that wasone of the most intimidating things about MAD.</p><p> It didn't work if youwaited to build a coalition.</p><p> So if the Soviets launched a missile -- justone missile -- we would consider that a full-out assault and launcheverything we had against them.</p><p> Only right-wingers would claim thiswasn't preemptive just because you didn't launch first.And of course, no President in US history that believed we were aboutto be attacked would have ever felt the need to get "approval" beforeresponding militarily or attacking first.</p><p> But every President beforeBush knew that huge international struggles were easier to win if youreached out to allies rather than pushing them away."On stopping North Korea's nuclear buildup," writes Safire, "Kerryabandoned his global-testing multilateralism; our newest neoconderided Bush's six-nation talks and demands America go it gloriouslyalone."Wrong.</p><p> Kerry has said repeatedly that the US having face-to-facetalks with North Korea doesn't mean all the regional partners (China,Japan, etc.) have to walk away.</p><p> He WANTS them to stay involved.And Safire ignores the larger truth that George Bush has made aradical break with 50 years of foreign policy.</p><p> Bush mocks our allies,mocks the UN, mocks the Geneva Convention, mocks the WorldCourt, mocks the World Trade Organization, walks away from theKyoto Accords and never makes a serious new offer and on and onand on.</p><p> Everyone on the right keeps saying Kerry's position on Iraq isthe same as Bush because they both want to bring in more allies.</p><p> Thedifference is that Kerry hasn't seriously damaged every internationalalliance we've built over the last 50 years and rejected offers of helpby the UN and other nations at crucial stages in Iraq and Afghanistan."And in embracing Wilsonian idealism to intervene in Darfur'spotential genocide," writes Safire, "Kerry's promise of troops outdidPentagon liberators: "If it took American forces to some degree tocoalesce the African Union, I'd be prepared to do it. ...''"That's not some massive new stance.</p><p> That's the same basic,humanitarian stance that every decent nation pledged after the Daily Kos"Difference isn't a threat" - Dave Neiwert, theblogosphere's leading expert on the eliminationistmovement, has a typically excellent post about theweekend's tragic shooting at Croo...8 minutes agoFiredoglakeConyers Explains Failure to Impeach - The HouseCommittee on the Judiciary Majority Staff haswritten a Final Report to Chairman John Conyers,Jr. last month (March 2009), REINING IN THEIMPERI...17 minutes agoHuffPost PoliticsAllison Kilkenny: Obama, Nukes, and the World -While Obama's pursuit of nuclear disarmamentwould be noble, double standards, favoritism, andfear-mongering are cancerous elements that robthe U.S. of res...22 minutes agoEschatonDeep Thought - Why is Chris Hayes always on myteevee?1 hour agoCrooks and LiarsNCAA Basketball Open Thread - Satire from TheOnion.</p><p> Yeah, yer brackets are in the toilet.</p><p> Openthread for the NCAA Championship game, a regularopen thread appears at 8:30 Pacific Ti...1 hour agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S Show AllA M E R I C A B L O G T V www.MoneyAndMarkets.comFeedback - Ads by Google AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Kerry ...http://www.americablog.com/2004/10/kerry-neocon.html 1 of 64/6/09 10:45 PM
