Via Drudge. I saw this yesterday but was too busy to take notes...
 Leading Democratic Party critics of US President George W. Bush's Iraq policy cautiously welcomed the successful staging of elections and distanced themselves from calls for the start of an immediate US troop withdrawal.
| Purely a temporary phenomenon... |
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who lost the November presidential election against Republican President George W. Bush, described the Iraqi elections as "significant" and "important" but said they should not be "overhyped."
| Meaning, simply, that he doesn't want Bush to get any credit for them... |
"It is significant that there is a vote in Iraq," Kerry said in an interview with NBC television's Meet the Press. "But ... no one in the United States should try to overhype this election. This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation. And it's going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in. Absent that, we will not be successful in Iraq."
| Let's try to wade through the nuances in that mess. Don't overhype it means that there's gotta be something wrong with it, otherwise Bush would deserve credit for bringing them to this point. There are "demarcation points" all over the landscape, but all "demarcation points" aren't created equal. This one's significant. "What really counts" is that the Iraqis got a chance to vote on what kind of government they're actually going to have, rather than having one imposed on them by a bunch of guys with uniforms and tin hats or turbans. That he can dismiss the significance of that demonstrates his own shallowness and underscores the fact the he's a purely political creature with no real values. The "legitimate political reconciliation" is an Iraqi matter, and the mechanism to achieve it is a representative form of government, the details of which are precisely what the Iraqis were voting on. The fact that a segment of the populace doesn't want to reconcile presents a problem, but it's not one that's amenable to diplomatic solution. The Iraqis have to hunt down the Bad Guyz and kill them, not make up with the Frenchies and have roundtable discussions with the Belgians. |
Kerry also said he did not support fellow Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy's call last week for the immediate pullout of at least 12,000 US troops from Iraq following the elections.
| Probably because it's not politically expedient. Kennedy looks like the ass he is, and most people who aren't regular posters on DU seem to agree. That's the way the wind blows, so that's the way JFnK is going. |
"I wouldn't do a specific timetable, but I certainly agree with (Kennedy) in principle, that the goal must be to withdraw American troops," Kerry said.
| Eventually. When the job's done. Expending lives and resources to halfass a job doesn't make a lot of sense. |
Another influential Democrat, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also rejected Kennedy's call for an immediate withdrawal of some American forces. "I think pulling American forces out now would be, quite frankly, a serious mistake," Biden said on CBS television's Face the Nation. "I think it's much too premature. I think there would be a collapse, quite frankly, of any sense of order in the country."
| Which is, of course, the whole idea. Collapse would lead to revulsion, directed not at the dipsticks like Kennedy who called for it, but at the president who was dumb enough to do it. That's the way the system works in practice, and they all know it. The public either doesn't pay attention or forgets the fact. |
Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, whose name has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008, described the Iraqi elections as a "great day for democracy" but cautioned that "this is only one step in what is going to be a long and difficult process."
"It's a good day, but we need to see it through to a successful conclusion," Bayh said. "And frankly, I'm concerned, given some of the past mistakes, whether this leadership team will be capable of that."
| I'm not in the least concerned, given some of the past successes. We're fighting a war to the death against a vicious and tenacious enemy, something the guys with the expensive suits seem to forget. The fact that they're vicious doesn't mean they're stoopid; every time we make a move they try to counter it, and if they can't counter it, they try something else that'll lessen its value. It's move and countermove, not a steamroller Master Plan. Things are going to go wrong; what's important is how well we can recover from setbacks. |
He said he disagreed with Kennedy's call for the start of a US troop withdrawal from Iraq. "We've planted our flag," Bayh said. "I think that we need to be successful now, and unfortunately that's going to require our presence for some time. I think to cut and run at this juncture would be a terrible mistake."
| Looks like eventual success might be in sight, huh? |
Michigan Senator Carl Levin, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said challenges remain. "I'm afraid there were some areas where the turnout is extremely low, and that's the Sunni Triangle areas or parts thereof," he said. "And that's the challenge that we now face. But Iraqis that did turn out in large numbers, at least in some areas and in some places, took their lives in their hands in doing so, and we're very delighted with that." Levin said it was too early to talk about a troop withdrawal. "I think that is putting the cart a little bit ahead of the horse," he said.
| I think that horse is dead for a month or so, until the attention span's worn off. In fact, it might be time for the Dems to trot out the need for more troops again. |
"As important as it is that we finally obtain some kind of an exit strategy, we have to negotiate that with the sovereign government and see whether or not the Iraqis will step up to their own security as well. We've got to see whether or not the Iraqi people will put their lives on the line in joining the security forces. There are very few trained Iraqi security forces in Iraq. That is a huge challenge."
| Look hard enough, you can always find something to kvetch about, can't you? |
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