Follow-up - While driving home tonight, I heard Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart angry condemn the Bush campaign for suggesting that John Kerry is criticizing American soldiers. As it turns out, nobody can question Kerry's commitment to the military because....
...oh, you know.
2 comments:
Oooohhh, looks like somebody forgot to feed Rudy Guiliani the talking points:
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/302/politics/Iraq_mom_riled_by_Guiliani_rem:.shtml
"In a morning television appearance, Guiliani criticized Democrat John Kerry for blaming President Bush for the disappearance of hundreds of tons of explosives in Iraq.
''NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY TO BLAME IT ON THE PRESIDENT, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?'' he said on NBC's ''Today'' show."
No, Rudy, no! Massachusetts liberal Senator John Kerry attacking TROOPS! Massachusetts liberal Senator Kerry hate ARMY MEN!
Guilliani is right, though. *If* the missing explosives are an indication of a screw-up then it's the fault of the people closer to the action. That is why Kerry says, "I'ts Bush's fault," and Bush says, "Kerry blames the troops for everything... he's not supporting the troops."
In the sense of "the buck stops here," the responsibility is Bush's. He made the overall strategic choice to fight a fast war to take out Sadam and leave the rest of the country as untouched as possible. That's why we've got troops arriving at Al Qaqaa and then leaving it behind again without securing it. If that made it possible for looting to occur I think it is a more than worthy trade-off.
To say that somehow the troops should have been able to *also* secure what they were marching past, is a lack of appreciation and a criticism of the way they've done their jobs.
As for Kerry's military service... the whole point of military structure and culture is to build on a tradition that makes it possible for complete idiots to function effectively in war. This includes most new officers... that's why they are given senior enlisted as nurse-maids. Some/most of those new officers will thrive and learn and become competent and skilled leaders. A very few of those new officers will thrive and show true talent and understanding of what it takes to wage war and will become formidable and inspirational leaders.
It's people who *don't* understand this that think that the rest of us should be impressed that Kerry functioned as a jr. officer in the Navy.
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