While Dick LoseHeart (D-Misery) and, unfortunately,
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mekong Delta) debase themselves and
hurt the nation by criticizing Howard Dean
(D-Jeffords) and Wesley Clark (D-NATO), Sen. Edward
Kennedy (D-Camelot) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-US
Constitution) have taken brave stands and delivered
historic speeches that will go down in the history of
this country...
CNN: "Kennedy said the decision to invade Iraq was
grounded in the "gross abuse of intelligence," an
"arrogant disrespect for the United Nations" and the
GOP's desire to seize control of both houses of
Congress in 2002...He was flanked by Brian and Alma
Hart, whose son John was killed in Iraq, and Army Sgt.
Peter Damon, who lost both arms serving in Iraq."
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-up and the Iraq Deceit, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/14/kennedy.iraq
Kennedy: Iraq war based on politics
WASHINGTON (CNN) --U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, an elder
statesman among liberal Democrats, slammed President
Bush and his administration for going to war in Iraq
based on political considerations.
In a speech Wednesday, Kennedy said the decision to
invade Iraq was grounded in the "gross abuse of
intelligence," an "arrogant disrespect for the United
Nations" and the GOP's desire to seize control of both
houses of Congress in 2002.
The senator from Massachusetts spoke to the Center for
American Progress, a liberal advocacy group, at the
Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
He was flanked by Brian and Alma Hart, whose son John
was killed in Iraq, and Army Sgt. Peter Damon, who
lost both arms serving in Iraq.
Kennedy called the invasion of Iraq "a war of choice,
not of necessity" and laid out what he called a
timeline of the "drumbeat to war" that he said began
in the earliest days of the Bush presidency.
In support of his criticism, Kennedy cited recent
revelations about Iraq policy by former Treasury
Secretary Paul O'Neill in the Ron Suskind book "The
Price of Loyalty" and in TV and magazine interviews.
"Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has now
revealed what many of us have long suspected," Kennedy
said.
"Despite protestations to the contrary, the president
and his senior aides began the march to war in Iraq in
the earliest days of the administration, long before
the terrorists struck this nation on 9/11."
Bush officials have denied the administration had a
predisposition to invade Iraq, saying the White House
was continuing former President Clinton's policy of
regime change.
The senator insisted the Bush administration built the
case for war as a distraction from the failed search
for Osama bin Laden and the failure to roust al Qaeda
in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
In going to war, Kennedy said, the administration made
the United States "a lesser and less respected land."
There was "no compelling reason for war," and "the war
has not made America safer," Kennedy said, adding that
there is no convincing evidence connecting Saddam
Hussein's Iraq and September 11.
Kennedy said the administration continues to be guided
by a "misguided and arrogant foreign policy" that
makes the world more dangerous because it increases
the threat of terrorism and erodes international of
support for the United States.
He said Americans will see through the
administration's failed polices and express their
anger at the voting booth in November.
"The election cannot come too soon," he said.
Kennedy has been a consistent critic of the
administration's policy toward Iraq. He was one of 23
senators who opposed the resolution authorizing Bush
to go to war.
In a September interview, the senator called the war
"a fraud" that had been cooked up in Texas.
Leading congressional Republicans denounced his
remarks. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas said
Kennedy went too far and called on Democrats to
repudiate his comments. (Full story)
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/14/kennedy.iraq