Wash. Times mischaracterized Democratic senators' positions on troop withdrawal
Summary: The Washington Times suggested that Sens. Harry Reid, John Kerry, and Joe Biden changed their views on the need for additional troops in Iraq only after President Bush announced his plan to send more troops to Iraq on January 10. In fact, in June 2006 -- well before Bush embraced a "surge" -- all three senators supported an amendment that called for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin by the end of 2006.
In a January 31 article, "Advocates of troop surge about-face in Congress," The Washington Times mischaracterized the positions of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Democratic Sens. John Kerry (MA) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (DE) on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in an effort to prove the assertion that "many in the Senate" "were for a surge of troops in Iraq before they were against it." The Times article, by reporter Charles Hurt, suggested that Reid, Kerry, and Biden changed their views on the need for additional troops in Iraq only after President Bush announced his plan to send more troops to Iraq on January 10. In fact, in June 2006 -- well before Bush embraced a "surge" -- all three senators supported an amendment that called on the Bush administration to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2006 "after consultation with the Government of Iraq."
During that same period, Kerry sponsored an amendment that would have required almost all U.S. troops to have been withdrawn from Iraq by July 1, 2007. Kerry voted in favor of his amendment on June 22, 2006 (although neither Biden nor Reid did). Furthermore, Biden was a co-sponsor of the measure for a phased redeployment of U.S. troops to begin by the end of 2006 and, later, with Reid, signed a July 30, 2006, letter to Bush that read in part: "We believe that a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq should begin before the end of 2006."
To prove the point that Kerry "is among at least a dozen Democratic senators who in the past have called for more troops in Iraq but now support a resolution condemning President Bush's plan to do just that," the Times, in addition to omitting the key fact that, in 2006, Kerry sponsored the previously mentioned legislation that would have required an almost total U.S. troop withdrawal by July 1, 2007, used Kerry statements that are years old:
"We don't have enough troops in Iraq," Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, said in 2005.
In 2004, he told NBC's Tim Russert some things he believes "very deeply."
"Number one, we cannot fail," Mr. Kerry said. "I've said that many times. And if it requires more troops in order to create the stability that eliminates the chaos, that can provide the groundwork for other countries, that's what we have to do."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886726/MORE AT:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702010006?src=other
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
