Swelling Call to Quit Iraq Is Peril for Kerry - WSJ

By JACOB M. SCHLESINGER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of liberal activists is expected this week to begin mobilizing support for removing American troops from Iraq. Though problems in Iraq hurt President Bush most, swelling withdrawal sentiment could also complicate the campaign of Democratic challenger John Kerry.

The Massachusetts senator supports maintaining U.S. troop levels and perhaps even increasing them in the short term, while soliciting help from allies toward reducing U.S. occupation forces later. But on a conference call tomorrow, an alliance of 39 groups organized under the banner of "Win Without War" is expected to rally behind a call for a more definitive withdrawal. If the campaign gathers steam, it could open a rift on the political left and fuel Ralph Nader's antiwar message at Mr. Kerry's expense.

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"Win Without War" director Tom Andrews, a former Democratic congressman from Maine, says that "there's a broad consensus that our robust military presence is a hindrance" in Iraq.... Though most elected Democratic officials back Mr. Kerry's call for a continued American presence in Iraq, some are also joining the withdrawal camp. For the sake of U.S. troops, "It's time to get out," says Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington in a telephone interview. Urging Mr. Kerry to push for troop withdrawal, he adds, "If you want to be the leader of this country, you must step forward and lead now."

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"We do have a responsibility to see that Iraq, the region, don't blow up," says Wes Boyd, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who helped found MoveOn.org. Mr. Boyd worries a call for troop withdrawal would divert attention from what he considers the more important cause of defeating Mr. Bush. "We really do have to be properly focused," he says. "We really need to see a change in the management of the situation ... and the Kerry team does present a good alternative."

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is whatever is right for the US, plain and simple.

One of the main problems facing bushhole is that he has politicized this war in order to get (re)elected, instead of what is right for our military and Iraq.

The realization of this by the American people is the primary reason that he is falling in the polls. For that matter, every action he takes revolves around the election and not what is in the best interests of the American people. Americans see this more and more each day (remember, not all Americans knew what a self-serving bunch of evil bastards they are, as some of us here have known all along).

As long as John Kerry doesn't fall into this trap, and does what is morally right, we will be just fine around November.

Even Kerry must realize that the same soldiers that blew up your country and killed thousands of your family members and fellow citizens cannot turn around and become peacekeepers -- especially when the stated mission was phony -- no WMDs, no imminent threat and the other mission to rid them of Hussein has been accomplished -- so what are we still doing there knocking down people's doors and bombing their cities and issuing orders to sell the country and to keep the oil flowing. Did we really think they wouldn't fight back; that they wouldn't resist. Kerry says we can't lose Iraq -- well it's not ours to lose; it belongs to the Iraqi people to determine their own destiny; to make their own history! And every soldier in Iraq is a legitimate target to the resistance. If need be,if it's what the Iraqis want, we should help organize an arab peacekeeping force to help the Iraqis make the transition to a new government.