Kerry Flips Another Flop On Iraq

ABCNEWS.com has posted a transcript of an excerpt from Diane Sawyer's interview with Kerry which is being broadcast on ABC's "Good Morning America," Wednesday, Sept. 29, and Thursday, Sept. 30:

DIANE SAWYER: Was the war in Iraq worth it?

SEN. JOHN KERRY: We should not have gone to war knowing the information we know today.

SAWYER: If it turns out OK ... it was worth it?

KERRY: We have to succeed now that we've done. Look, we have to succeed.

[. . .]

SAWYER: I want to come back to this issue of the Bush campaign's insistence about flip-flopping, waffling on positions. And, indeed, the polls show 53 percent of the voters — a recent poll — think that you change your mind too often.

KERRY: I think their advertising, and their effort over these last months — to use that word — have been particularly successful. I give them credit for it. But it doesn't reflect truth....

On Tuesday, August 10, the Washington Post reported:

Responding to President Bush's challenge to clarify his position, Sen. John F. Kerry said Monday [Aug. 10,] that he still would have voted to authorize the war in Iraq even if he had known then that U.S. and allied forces would not find weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, the Democratic presidential nominee said that his goal as president would be to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq during his first six months in office through diplomacy and foreign assistance.

Three things.

First, Kerry's answer to Sawyer, "We should not have gone to war knowing the information we know today," is another flip flop from what he said in August, "that he still would have voted to authorize the war in Iraq even if he had known then that U.S. and allied forces would not find weapons of mass destruction."

Second, Saying that his goal as president would be to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq during his first six months in office is inconsistent with saying we have to succeed. I don't know of anyone other than Kerry that thinks we can succeed in Iraq in six months. If the Iraqi opposition realizes they only have to hold out for six months, success becomes even less likely during that period.

Third, regarding Kerry's "consistency on Iraq I refer back to my "Kerry: 'I Have Been Consistent All Along'" post. Kerry has only made it worse since then.

Comments

[Karen v.H.]

Kerry still hasn't flip-flopped. Kerry stands by his position: he would have voted Yes on the authorization of the use of force, as he said in August, because that was a key component of the plan to force Saddam Hussein to back down and let weapons inspectors back in. Congress had to give Pres. Bush the big stick to get Saddam to back down. But Saddam *did* back down, and then Bush launched the war anyway, which Kerry disapproves of. No flip-flop, just a longstanding disagreement on whether, once Bush had the authority to use force, it was a good idea for him to *exercise* the authority. Kerry hasn't wavered on his position at all. Check out the information at KerryOnIraqWar.com where we lay out Kerry's statements on Iraq very clearly.