Reply #13: That is not fair

[karynnj]

Kerry's 2004 Iraq position laid out at NYU would have had troops starting to leave in 2005. He didn't use the only words you wanted to hear - "immediate withdrawal". In 2004, he could give a plan with the expectation of leading it, here are things said:

-rapidly train Iraqis (Bush rejected the offers of Eqypt , Jordan, France and Germany to train many Iraqis simultaneously - Kerry asked Rice about it in early 200.>)

- no permanent bases (said in debates)

- involve Iraqis in reconstruction giving them a stake in things working

- an immediate summit to leverage the desire of the neighbors for stability. Kerry would have done this first thing.

Note that his October 2005 plan had many similar elements reduced because the options were worse and he was pushing Bush.

The media in 2004 told you this was the same as Bush - it wasn't - look at the list did Bush really do anything Kerry spoke of. The media and the Republicans argued there was no difference to try to retain people in the middle. Kerry even went on Letterman and explained his plan very simply in 30 seconds.