NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a sharply worded challenge to President Bush, Democratic Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday “extremism has gained momentum” as a result of administration missteps in Iraq, but said the war on terror is a winnable one with the right policies.
“When it comes to Iraq, it’s not that I would have done one thing differently, I would have done almost everything differently” than the president, the presidential candidate said in a speech to the national convention of the American Legion.
Kerry spoke dismissively of a statement Bush made Monday – then rescinded on Tuesday – that the war on terror might not be winnable.
“I absolutely disagree,” he said. “With the right policies, this is a war we can win, this is a war we must win, and this is a war we will win.” Kerry said. ” … In the end, the terrorists will lose and we will win because the future does not belong to fear, it belongs to freedom.”
Kerry, a veteran who won five medals for service in the Vietnam War, saluted others on the stage as he stepped to the same podium at which Bush spoke on Tuesday. He saluted again as he wrapped up his speech.
He accused the administration of failing to keep faith with the nation’s 36 million veterans by underfunding Veterans Affairs programs that leave thousands of former servicemen and women without adequate, timely health care, and reduced retirement and disability payments.
“The job will be done when the government stops asking veterans for increased co-payments, enrollment fees and other charges to shift the burden of care to more veterans and drive more than a million veterans out of the system,” he said.
But the heart of the speech was a strong attack on Bush’s policies in Iraq, delivered at a time when Republicans were midway through a national convention designed largely to stress the president’s credentials as an effective commander in chief in the war on terror.
Kerry cataloged what he said was a long list of administration shortcomings on Iraq – failing to heed the advice of senior generals on the number of troops needed for postwar operations, failing to secure the country’s borders, failing to share responsibility with NATO or the United Nations, shortchanging the training and equipping of the Iraqi police, and more.
As a result, he said, “today’s terrorists have secured havens in Iraq that were not there before. And we have been forced to reach accommodation with those who have repeatedly attacked our troops.
“Violence has spread in Iraq. Iran has expanded its influence, and extremism has gained momentum,” Kerry said.
The conservative-leaning crowd was mostly silent during Kerry’s criticisms of the commander in chief.
Kerry’s remarks marked his first extensive foray into the controversy that Bush triggered earlier this week. In a television interview aired Monday, Bush said he wasn’t certain the war on terror was winnable. The following day – before the same American Legion members that Kerry addressed – Bush said it was winnable.
Kerry spoke as the Democratic Party decided to air a new 30-second commercial in battleground states designed to stress the same points the Massachusetts senator covered. It accuses Bush of “a failure in leadership.”
“Mounting casualties, costing $200 billion and counting,” the ad says. “Now they call it a ‘catastrophic success.’ They say they ‘miscalculated.’ And now they say the war on terror is unwinnable.”
Associated Press
Sen. John Kerry greets members of the American Legion on Wednesday at their national conference in Nashville, Tenn.
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