Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Jim Allman <jim AT ibang.com>]

On Jul 30, 2004, at 6:50 PM, Tony Spencer wrote:
> Doesn't help Kerry's problem.  You guys can argue till you are blue in 
> the
> face that he/congress were misinformed or lied to.  They still spoke 
> those
> words:
>
> http://john-kerry.tonyspencer.com/kerry-speech-10-9-2002.htm#wmd

Tony,

It was decent of you to provide the complete speech on your site. It 
makes it clear that Kerry was authorizing force as a *backup* for the 
UN inspection process, not a replacement for it. It would have been 
naive to dismiss the possibility of Iraqi WMD, but there was clearly 
some doubt about the issue.

Here's the paragraph just before the "incriminating" statement:

> If the President arbitrarily walks away from this course of action 
> [enforcement through UN inspections]--without good cause or 
> reason--the legitimacy of any subsequent action by the United States 
> against Iraq will be challenged by the American people and the 
> international community. And I would vigorously oppose the President 
> doing so.

Kerry made this speech in October of 2002. A few months later, Bush 
pulled the plug on the inspectors by issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to 
Saddam.

Thanks again for the link, I hadn't read this before. In hindsight, 
Kerry seems kind of prescient here. (I guess this is why partisans 
usually prefer to quote *out* of context.)

  =jimA=

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jim Allman
Interrobang Digital Media
http://www.ibang.com/
(919) 649-5760