Reply #53: You Should Re-Examine Dean's Position [View All]

On Feb. 20, Dean told Salon.com that "if the U.N. in the end chooses not to enforce its own resolutions, then the U.S. should give Saddam 30 to 60 days to disarm, and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a regrettable, but unavoidable, choice."

That's hardly insisting that the UN back any action in Iraq.

As for Kerry voting out of calculations, he wasn't up for re-election in 1997:

“Saddam Hussein cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. This is not a matter about which there should be any debate whatsoever in the Security Council, or, certainly, in this Nation.”

“While we should always seek to take significant international actions on a multilateral rather than a unilateral basis whenever that is possible, if in the final analysis we face what we truly believe to be a grave threat to the well-being of our Nation or the entire world and it cannot be removed peacefully, we must have the courage to do what we believe is right and wise.” (Sen. John Kerry 11/9/97)

You may disagree with his vote, but there was conviction behind it.

As for the "status quo," Kerry has the record you wish Dean had. But keep talking about IWR. It saves you the trouble of admitting Dean's foriegn policy is supremely lightweight.