Kerry turns up the heat as only a REAL decorated veteran can who has fought in a war run on politics and understands the suffering of our military troops caught in the crossfire.

Soapbox time again. Kerry is the only candidate that can speak to those who want a strong leader and proven statesman with a military background but also has the goods for going against the establishment over an unpopular war for those on the other side. He is the ONLY candidate the Bush/GOP political attack machine fears and with good reason. He's the only one that can beat Bush by drawing all the Democrats along with conservative/moderate independents and even many working class GOP voters disgusted with what they are learning about the war and concerned about the economy, their jobs and the future.



Kerry Faults Bush's Rush to War in Iraq
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Monday that President Bush circumvented portions of the congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq by failing to exhaust all diplomatic options before attacking Baghdad.

The Massachusetts senator has stood by his vote last fall for the Iraq resolution in the face of criticism from anti-war Democrats and rival Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor who opposed the U.S.-led war. Kerry qualified his support Monday, saying it was the correct vote "based on the information that we were given."

"The president promised to build the international coalition, to do this as a matter of last resort, to go through the United Nations process and respect it," he said. "And in the end, it is clear now that he didn't do that sufficiently. And I think in that regard, the American people were let down."

Kerry said he voted for the resolution with the understanding that the administration would build an international coalition before attacking Saddam Hussein's forces.

"It seems quite clear to me that the president circumvented that process, shortchanged it and did not give full meaning to the words 'last resort,'" Kerry said in a 20-minute conference call with reporters.

The White House had no immediate comment on Kerry's criticism.

Kerry repeated his call for an investigation into the intelligence used to justify war with Iraq, but he said his most urgent concern is the safety of troops still stationed there. He said the Bush administration should go to the United Nations and seek an international coalition to share the burden for peacekeeping.

Bush on Monday urged allies to act under U.N. authority to help rebuild Iraq.

"The more people involved in Iraq, the better off we will be," the president told reporters in Texas. "A free Iraq is a crucial part of winning the war on terror."

Kerry said the administration is acting out of "a sort of either ideological or other kind of restraint" that is keeping them from getting support for U.S troops, who make up roughly 147,000 of the 160,000 force in Iraq.

"Half the Vietnam Wall dates from the time that that kind of pride began to cloud the decisions in Vietnam and I refuse to believe that the morale of the troops or the safety of the troops is helped by inserting hubris into this process now," said Kerry, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.





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