October 1, 2004
Kerry Wins Debate, But Iraq Mess to Continue No Matter Who Is President
John Kerry scored steadily throughout the debate Thursday night in Coral Gables. He came across well versed in all the issues. His answers were clear and direct. And he landed punch after punch on issue after issue.
He was especially strong on how the Iraq War has distracted the United States from the war against Al Qaeda.
Kerry used Richard Clarke's line to good effect: that Bush attacking Iraq after 9/11 is like FDR attacking Mexico after Pearl Harbor. And Kerry repeated his harsh criticism that the Iraq War constituted "a colossal error in judgment." At one point, Kerry added that Bush has got "ten times the number of troops in Iraq than where Osama bin Laden is."
Kerry went after Bush at least twice for "outsourcing the job" of capturing Osama bin Laden to Afghan warlords.
But Kerry stopped short of assailing Bush for letting 9/11 happen on his watch. For some reason, Kerry chose not to bring up Bush's August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Briefing that said, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."
Kerry rightfully pointed out how bin Laden is also using the Iraq War for propaganda purposes, but Kerry left himself open to a quick, solid counterpunch from Bush that bin Laden should not be determining U.S. policy.
Bush, especially at the beginning, appeared halting, ill at ease, and then bemused with a who-is-this-jerk look on his face while Kerry was speaking. Bush invoked 9/11 right away and throughout the debate, accusing Kerry of having a "pre-September 10 mentality."
It didn't help Bush's case, though, that he confused the names of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein right after Kerry accused him of using the war on terror as a pretext to invade Iraq. But Bush grew stronger as the night wore on. He repeated, ad nauseam, the charge that Kerry is "inconsistent" and keeps sending "mixed messages."
By contrast, Bush stressed how tough and determined he was. "You better have a President who chases these terrorists down," he said. The United States needs to "stay on offense," he said over and over.
Kerry missed an opportunity to jab back at Bush when the President boasted, at least twice, of busting up the nuclear Wal-Mart that Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan was running. The Bush Administration played along with General Musharraf's charade of prosecuting and then pardoning Khan, and in September Bush failed to press Musharraf to let the United States question Khan about his nefarious dealings.
Moderator Jim Lehrer managed to entirely forget about the issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a huge omission in this foreign policy debate. (Both Kerry and Bush waved at Israel once in passing.)
Kerry did nail Bush twice on the subject of nuclear proliferation, pointing out that Bush has not done nearly enough to round up the loose nukes in the former Soviet Union and has, in fact, cut money for it. "At his pace, he won't do it for thirteen years; I'll do it in four years," Kerry said twice, referring to his pledge to secure the nuclear materials there. And, to his credit, Kerry pointed out how hypocritical it was for the United States to conduct "research on bunker busting nuclear weapons while we're telling" other nations not to acquire nuclear weapons.
Kerry also slammed Bush for not protecting our ports, nuclear power plants, or chemical plants. And Kerry charged that Bush caved to the corporate pressure of the chemical companies.
Bush had one of his weakest moments when he tried to respond to the charge that he has not done enough on homeland security. All he could think of saying was, "How is he going to pay" for all this? And then Bush muttered that taxes would be the subject of another debate.
Kerry shot back that he and Bush "didn't need that tax cut" for the wealthy. "We need to keep America safe."
Bush also looked terrible when he responded to Kerry once by saying, "Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that." It was like he was talking about some trivial fact he had studied for, like what's the capital of Kazakhstan, instead of the biggest event of our lifetimes.
And Kerry got a good jab in after Bush boasted of changing the culture of the FBI, as Kerry promptly noted that "we just read in our daily newspapers of 100,000 hours of tapes unlistened to in the FBI."
On the dominant issue of the Iraq War, Kerry defended his vote to authorize the war but argued that Bush did not exhaust the diplomatic options, did not bring the allies on board, did not use force as a last resort, and did not have a plan to win the peace. Kerry also twice pointed out that the only ministry the U.S. guarded after the fall of Baghdad was the oil ministry, suggesting that this gave people the impression that the United States was there for the oil.
Bush dragged Dr. Allawi on stage a couple of times to vouch for the correctness of the President's policies.
And Bush strongly suggested that to criticize Allawi was a no-no for anyone who wanted to be President. Bush also hammered away at Kerry for saying that this was "the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place." That was something no commander in chief should ever say because it discourages the troops, the allies, and the Iraqis, Bush argued.
Kerry shredded Bush's claim of some grand coalition of the willing, noting that Americans were bearing 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the costs and that only three or four other countries have any sizable contingent of troops in Iraq.
But once the subject came down to what to do now in Iraq, Kerry was not much more reassuring than Bush.
Both said they were determined to stay until victory.
"The biggest disaster is if we don't succeed in Iraq," the President said. "We're going to win this war in Iraq."
Kerry said, "I'm not talking about leaving; I'm talking about winning." And at another point he said, "We need to win this."
Kerry even asserted that "we don't have enough troops" in Iraq and that the United States should have gone in and taken Fallujah. Though Kerry said "it's getting worse every day" in Iraq, his plan for more troops will bring only more bloodshed and more images of Americans as occupiers.
Kerry said he had a four-point plan for Iraq, but it is not markedly different than Bush's. The most Kerry could muster was to say that he would call a summit of allies and that the United States should renounce any "long-term designs" in Iraq.
Bush insisted "we're making progress" in Iraq, while acknowledging that "it's hard work."
But he offered little hope to U.S. soldiers and their families that the war would be over any time in the near future. "We'll get you home as soon as the mission is done," he said.
He was unrepentant about his unilateralism and denounced the international criminal court as a "foreign court" that could indict U.S. soldiers or diplomats, while Kerry criticized him for getting out of the global warming treaty. "We have a lot of earning back to do," Kerry said.
But Kerry himself did not reject unilateralism or preemptive war, for that matter. Peace activists, beware: Kerry said he would not rule out such preemptive action against North Korea and Iraq. He was, however, for bilateral talks with North Korea, which Bush derided. On this issue, while Kerry was right on the merits, Bush may have seemed stronger to the audience.
Bush also closed better than Kerry did.
But all in all, Kerry was more confident, more sure-footed, and more agile. And he gave America a clear choice: If you want a go-it-alone, "more-of-the-same" President, choose Bush. If you want a foreign policy that reaches out to our allies and tries to repair relations in the Muslim world, choose Kerry.
-- Matthew Rothschild
http://www.progressive.org/webex04/wx100104.html
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