Thursday, August 19, 2004
Kerry endorsed Bush's troop moves
Earlier this week, President Bush announced a "major realignment of U.S. forces around the world", a move that in my opinion, is a long time coming. This is just common sense:
Bush said about 60,000 to 70,000 uniformed personnel would move from overseas to posts in the United States over the next decade. The move would also involve about 100,000 family members and civilian employees, Bush said.
"The new plan will help us fight and win these wars of the 21st century," Bush said in a speech before a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Pentagon and senior administration officials told CNN that most of the reductions will come from Europe -- the rest, from Asia.
The Corner discovered that Kerry enthusiastically endorsed President Bush's plan:
The overall effort of a president right now ought to be really to try to find ways to reduce the overexposure, in a sense, of America's commitments. A proper approach to the Korean peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s and ultimately, hopefully, could result in the reduction of American presence, ultimately. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be trying to achieve in our foreign policy.
In fact, he endorsed it on April 14, even before Bush announced it, on August 17!
Oh, but now that Bush followed his advice, oops, Kerry changed his mind:
Sen. John F. Kerry, speaking to the nation's largest combat veterans organization Wednesday, denounced President Bush's proposal to bring home troops from Europe and Asia as vague, ill-timed and risky.
In a speech heavily salted with references to his own military service, the Democratic presidential nominee said Bush's plan would not bolster the country's ability to combat terrorism nor relieve the stress on overburdened troops.
John Kerry: Steady Leadership in Times of Change.
