"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Kerry's Great Coalition 

John Kerry tells us that he wishes that President Bush had been able to secure a larger coalition before invading Iraq. No, he says that we shouldn't have invaded without a larger coalition. Wait, he says that we shouldn't have invaded at all unless we had more specific UN sanction.... Ok I give up.

But for all of Kerry's flip flops, he has been somewhat consistent in that he that he wishes that we had this grand coalition that included many many nations, including France and Germany. If this is the case, he has an awfully odd strategy for getting them to join any coalition he might wish to build. Thanks for Captain's Quarters blog, we have this article from the Weekend Australian:

JOHN Kerry's campaign has warned Australians that the Howard Government's support for the US in Iraq has made them a bigger target for international terrorists.

Diana Kerry, younger sister of the Democrat presidential candidate, told The Weekend Australian that the Bali bombing and the recent attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta clearly showed the danger to Australians had increased.

"Australia has kept faith with the US and we are endangering the Australians now by this wanton disregard for international law and multilateral channels," she said, referring to the invasion of Iraq.

Asked if she believed the terrorist threat to Australians was now greater because of the support for Republican George W. Bush, Ms Kerry said: "The most recent attack was on the Australian embassy in Jakarta -- I would have to say that."


John Kerry has said that he would have built a bigger coalition before going to war with Iraq. If Diane Kerry's views reflect those of her brother, then apparently joining this coalition would make you a bigger target for terrorism. Why in the world would anyone want to join in a venture that made them more vulnerable? According to Kerry's own logic, the smart move would be to say out of the coalition that he says he wants to build.

Then, of course, there's the fact that he and other Democrats criticize the existing coalition as "fraudulent." I bet that makes the existing members feel good. How would you like it if you took a risk, often at odds with public opinion, to support the U.S. and then the next guy running for office demeans your efforts? At the very least, all of this reveals very poor judgment. At worst, a complete misunderstanding of how international diplomacy is conducted.

Further, as Captain Ed points out, is Diana Kerry not interfering with the upcoming elections in Australia? Does she now realize that anything she says is going to be in the press, and statements along the lines of the one above are bound to hurt John Howard, the conservative incumbent?

Update - And she can't even get her facts straight

Check out this article by Katherine Mangu-Ward in The Weekly Standard:

Alert readers, including Amanda Sokolski on this magazine's website, quickly picked up on errors in Ms. Kerry's timeline. The Bali bombing took place long before Australia got mixed up with those nasty Americans and their "wanton disregard for international law." And the September 9 attack on the Australian embassy was perpetrated by Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's Southeast Asia franchise, which has considered Australia a target since well before the Iraq war. Evidently, the details of this timeline were blurry for Ms. Kerry, who has been .busy shuttling around the globe on her brother's behalf for the last several months.


Posted by: Tom the Redhunter / 9/21/2004 12:16:00 PM
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