Kerry and Dean on Iraq

Senator John Kerry and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean are drinking the Kool-Aid again over the war in Iraq.

Kerry appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer, and Kerry's key quote that's getting all the press is this one, from today's WorldNetDaily:

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs," Kerry said Sunday. "Whether you like it or not ... Iraqis should be doing that."

Senator Kerry has a history of hyperbole when it comes to discussing the actions of our troops. Back in 1971, when he said that we had "created a monster" of the US military, he no doubt meant every word. His accusations then were prepared and rehearsed.

This time, I'm sure Kerry will protest that he made a poor word choice in saying our troops are "terrorizing kids" and didn't mean his statement in the way it sounds. I certainly hope he doesn't mean that our troops commit terrorist acts against Iraqi women and children and that the Iraqis should be terrorizing their people instead.

But if Kerry is going to overstate his criticisms of our military's conduct, then perhaps he shouldn't accuse the President of overstating things earlier:

"What I'm saying today is that this administration hyped the evidence, took every opportunity to go down a course that they wanted to go down, and that they did not judiciously parse or share with the Congress doubts that their own intelligence agencies had which they saw and we did not, and that means they misled us and misled the nation," he said.

Kerry is trying to mislead the American people into believing that the war in Iraq is being badly led and badly executed. Now that we're in Iraq, Kerry's misleading statements are over the top.

And so are those of Howard Dean. WorldNetDaily reported today about Dean's interview at WOIA radio station in San Antonio, Texas.

The "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," Dean predicted on WOIA.

"I've seen this before in my life. This is the same situation we had in Vietnam," said Dean.

We can't seem to hear from the Democrats (with the exception of Joe Lieberman) without hearing the "V" word. And Howard Dean kept with that pattern. His solution to the "Vietnam" problem in Iraq is this:

"I think we need a strategic redeployment over a period of two years," Dean said. "Bring the 80,000 National Guard and reserve troops home immediately. They don't belong in a conflict like this anyway. We ought to have a redeployment to Afghanistan of 20,000 troops, we don't have enough troops to do the job there and it's a place where we are welcome. And we need a force in the Middle East, not in Iraq but in a friendly neighboring country to fight (terrorist leader Abu Musab) Zarqawi, who came to Iraq after this invasion. We've got to get the target off the backs of American troops."

Unfortunately, Howard Dean and others of his ilk don't understand the basic facts about the terrorists. We can't get the target off the backs of American troops, no matter where they are. And we can't get the target off the backs of all of the rest of the Americans and all the rest of the world's "infidels." We need to leave our troops where they are and let them kill Zarqawi and his thugs right there in Iraq.

Finally, I find this set of polling results interesting. While most of the questions have results that are opposed to President Bush and his handling of the war, when it comes down to brass tacks, people know what's best (emphasis added).

"If you had to choose, which do you think is the better approach for deciding when the U.S. should withdraw its troops from Iraq: to withdraw U.S. troops only when certain goals are met, or to withdraw U.S. troops by a specific date and stick to that time-table, regardless of conditions in Iraq at that time?" When goals are met: 59% By a specific date: 35% Unsure: 6%

"Do you think the world would be better off or worse off if the U.S. military had not taken action in Iraq and Saddam Hussein were still in power?" Better: 27% Worse: 52% Same: 8% Unsure: 13%

"Do you think Iraq would be better off or worse off if the U.S. military had not taken action in Iraq and Saddam Hussein were still in power?" Better: 20% Worse: 50% Same: 7% Unsure: 14%