August 16, 2004

Who Will Be The Last Person to Die For Kerry's Mistake?

John Kerry's promise that, if he is elected, he'll bring large numbers of American troops home from Iraq within six months, is cause for concern. Much as he did more than three decades ago, Kerry's political statements are helping the enemy, and President Bush was right to call him on it during a campaign event in New Mexico last week:

President Bush on Wednesday attacked John Kerry's pledge to bring large numbers of troops home from Iraq within a year, saying it would embolden the Iraqi insurgency and jeopardize the mission. For a second day in a row, Bush sought to undercut Kerry's war-leadership credentials, accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of sending mixed signals over Iraq.

"We all want the mission to be completed as quickly as possible, but we want the mission to be complete," Bush told an "Ask President Bush" event in Albuquerque.

"The mission is not going to be completed as quickly as possible if the enemy thinks we're going to be removing a substantial number of troops in six months," he said.

Kerry said on Monday that reducing U.S. troops in Iraq by next August was an "appropriate goal," and that if he wins, he would seek to pull out a large number of troops within six months of taking office next January.

President Bush is expected to announce today a reallignment of U.S. forces in the world to be better able to fight the war on terror over the long term. By contrast, Kerry is promising his political base - and the enemies of freedom in Iraq - that, if he's elected, America will substantially reduce its fighting force in Iraq in mid-2005.

It is a mistake that will get Americans killed.

Announcing - and campaigning on the promise of - an arbitrary deadline for reducing troop strength in a war zone gives the enemy reason to believe it can win by not losing just by hanging on long enough and continue killing Americans in sufficient numbers that Kerry's political base, the anti-war Left, becomes ever more insistent that the troops come home. It is a colossally incompetent move, especially by a man who thinks himself competent to be commander-in-chief. It is a mistake that will get Americans killed. Who will be the last American soldier, the last civilian contractor, the last aid worker, and the last innocent Iraqi man, woman and child to die for Kerry's mistake?

Kerry's staffers say the senator's goal of reducing the number of American troops in Iraq is based on his (secret) plan to enlist greater numbers of troops from other nations.

But what happens if President Kerry fails to convince France and Germany to send large numbers of troops to Iraq? What happens if they send only a token force as a PR move, and then, six months into the Kerry presidency, the Left is clamoring for the troops to come home? Will he cut and run, to protect his political base?

America was not defeated militarily in Vietnam. America lost in Vietnam because people like John Kerry undermined America's political will to fight. The question is: Does Kerry realize yet that Iraq is not Vietnam - but that, if he talks long enough and says the wrong things, he could yet turn it into another one?