abu afak
01-23-2004, 06:01 PM
Paranoid Lunacy
Ted Kennedy on Iraq.
by Rich Lowry
1/21/04
Sen. Ted Kennedy last week launched a blistering attack on the Bush administration's Iraq policy. He charged that the Iraq war was driven by domestic political considerations, as White House operative Karl Rove and other administration officials dragged the country to war to improve the president's political standing. In this view, the war wasn't — whatever its ultimate wisdom — the finale of a ten-year-long battle with Saddam Hussein, supported by 70 percent of the American public and authorized by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress, but a political fraud pure and simple.
How must recent history look to Kennedy to sustain his theory? Something like this: After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the first President Bush leaves Saddam in power in what is widely denounced as a mistake by hawks, but is really farsighted paternal politics. Bush realizes his son will need an international punching bag midway through his first term.
In 1998, President Clinton asserts a U.S. right to unilateral military action against Iraq and argues that Saddam's continued possession of weapons of mass destruction presents a grave threat. His statements provide fodder for Bush administration hawks in 2002. Why Clinton would want to help Bush's partisan political plot in such a way will always be a mystery, although perhaps he wanted to help Bush in order to block the 2004 Democratic presidential aspirants, thus creating an opening for his wife in 2008.
In October of 1998, the Iraq Liberation Act unanimously passes the Senate, making it the official policy of the U.S. government to seek regime change in Iraq. That every Democrat in the Senate, including Kennedy, votes to advance Bush's conspiracy so early — when Bush is still governor of Texas — speaks well of Bush's ability to build bipartisan coalitions. Although it's impossible to know without access to congressional phone logs, Rove must have worked the phones very hard....""
http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200401210928.asp
Ted Kennedy on Iraq.
by Rich Lowry
1/21/04
Sen. Ted Kennedy last week launched a blistering attack on the Bush administration's Iraq policy. He charged that the Iraq war was driven by domestic political considerations, as White House operative Karl Rove and other administration officials dragged the country to war to improve the president's political standing. In this view, the war wasn't — whatever its ultimate wisdom — the finale of a ten-year-long battle with Saddam Hussein, supported by 70 percent of the American public and authorized by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress, but a political fraud pure and simple.
How must recent history look to Kennedy to sustain his theory? Something like this: After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the first President Bush leaves Saddam in power in what is widely denounced as a mistake by hawks, but is really farsighted paternal politics. Bush realizes his son will need an international punching bag midway through his first term.
In 1998, President Clinton asserts a U.S. right to unilateral military action against Iraq and argues that Saddam's continued possession of weapons of mass destruction presents a grave threat. His statements provide fodder for Bush administration hawks in 2002. Why Clinton would want to help Bush's partisan political plot in such a way will always be a mystery, although perhaps he wanted to help Bush in order to block the 2004 Democratic presidential aspirants, thus creating an opening for his wife in 2008.
In October of 1998, the Iraq Liberation Act unanimously passes the Senate, making it the official policy of the U.S. government to seek regime change in Iraq. That every Democrat in the Senate, including Kennedy, votes to advance Bush's conspiracy so early — when Bush is still governor of Texas — speaks well of Bush's ability to build bipartisan coalitions. Although it's impossible to know without access to congressional phone logs, Rove must have worked the phones very hard....""
http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200401210928.asp