Kerry’s Homage to Bush in Babylon
Press Action
Friday, March 19, 2004
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/hand03192004/
If he wins election in November, rest assured John Kerry will embrace a foreign policy that’s a breath of fresh air compared to the ignoble reign of George W. Bush. The change in policy would be like night and day.
If you’re not convinced, take a look at the enlightened and gracious manner in which candidate Kerry responded to the incoming Spanish government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s decision to fulfill a campaign promise to bring back to Spain its troops deployed in Iraq.
Kerry said that if Spain brings its soldiers home at this point in the occupation, “it would leave behind a failed state that inevitably would become a haven for terrorists.” Kerry urged Zapatero to reconsider, saying he should “send a message that terrorists cannot win by their acts of terror.” The Democratic presidential candidate added, “In my judgment the new prime minister should not have said he was going to pull out of Iraq.”
Zapatero thanked Kerry for his helpful suggestions. “Perhaps John Kerry doesn’t know, but I am delighted to explain to him that my commitment to the return of the troops goes back before the tragic, dramatic terrorist attack,” Zapatero said.
Bush, on the other hand, was impolite in his criticism of Zapatero’s decision. “Those who are pulling out, showing their weakness, are very naïve to expect to be guaranteed safety and be spared of terrorist attacks,” Bush said.
A top Republican leader in Congress and ally of Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, revealed an even greater rift between the Republicans and Kerry on the issue of Spain. “Here’s a country who stood against terrorism and had a huge terrorist act within their country, and they chose to change their government and to, in a sense, appease terrorists,” Hastert said.
Unlike the House Speaker, Kerry’s Democratic colleague, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, was a class act in his assessment of Zapatero’s election victory. “[W]ill Madrid be remembered as Pearl Harbor or as Munich? For now the response of too many Spanish voters looks more like Munich,” Lieberman said. “By electing a new government, the people of Spain implied that they not only reject U.S. policies in Iraq but also the need to join us in the war against terrorism.”
As a people who value freedom of choice like no others, Americans should be thankful for Bush and Kerry’s clearly articulated differences of opinion on Spain’s decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Let’s review: Kerry hopes Spain will think twice before it commits an act that will send the wrong message to terrorists; Bush calls the incoming Spanish leader’s policy of withdrawal naïve and a sign of weakness.
If Democrats and Republicans ever dared to read from the same foreign policy script, our government’s claim to the title of world’s greatest democracy would have no basis. America would lose all credibility in the eyes of its own citizens and the international community. In these dangerous times when the world’s only superpower is running amok, we’re lucky to have an established opposition here in the United States. Thank god for the Democrats. — Mark Hand