Reply #60: Why don't you invalidate this...

[KaraokeKarlton]

Apparently Kerry is pro-Israel AND he signed onto Bush's war because he WANTED to do it...he wasn't trying to force Bush to go to the UN...he demonized them.


March 21, 2002

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20500-0003

Dear Mr. President:

We write to express our profound concern and dismay at the news of yet another suicide bombing in Jerusalem -- killing three and wounding more than 50 -- even as General Zinni is on the ground in the region trying to bring both parties together for cease-fire negotiations.

Chairman Arafat made a commitment at Oslo to settle all differences between Palestinians and Israelis peacefully and to renounce the use of terrorism and other acts of violence. Yet even today the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Mr. Arafat's own Fatah movement, are engaged in acts of violence and terrorism.

It is especially disappointing to us that this bombing -- the second in two days -- comes just at a time that Vice President Cheney had offered to meet with Mr. Arafat and that General Zinni had returned to the region to seek to bring both sides together to implement the Tenet Plan. Yet there is no evidence, on the ground, that Mr. Arafat is willing to do what is necessary to help bring peace to Israel and his people. Mr. Arafat must live up to his pledge at Oslo and demonstrate that he is a genuine partner for peace.

We strongly believe that Chairman Arafat must take decisive and concerted action to rein in the terrorists and put and end to their brutal campaign -- and must demonstrate, on the ground, that he is willing to take the steps necessary to bring the violence to an end. Until Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority demonstrate a commitment, in word and deed, to control the violence and do everything they can to stop it, we believe that Israel, a democratic state and a staunch friend and ally of the United States, is strongly within its rights to take necessary and appropriate measures to assure the security of its people.

Until Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority demonstrate their commitment to end the violence we would urge that the Vice President reconsider his offer to meet with Mr. Arafat. And although we believe that it is critical that General Zinni remain in the region, we hope that he makes clear that the United States will not deal with those who do not live up to their commitments.

We look forward to your thoughts on this matter, and to working with you on this critical issue.

With warmest personal regards.

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein, Tom Daschle, Joseph Lieberman, Jon Kyl, Ron Wyden, Mitch McConnell, Bob Graham, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Jesse Helms, Kent Conrad, Richard Durbin, Jon Corzine, Jim Jeffords, Harry Reid, John D. Rockefeller IV, Christopher Dodd, Arlen Specter, Fritz Hollings, Daniel Inouye, John Warner, Paul Wellstone, Hillary Clinton, James Inhofe, Richard Shelby, Herb Kohl, Robert Torricelli, Carl Levin, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer, Russell Feingold, Evan Bayh, John Edwards, Orrin Hatch, Tim Hutchinson, Mike Crapo, Christopher Bond, Bob Smith, Mary Landrieu, Charles Grassley, Bill Nelson, Jim Bunning Tim Johnson, Blanche Lincoln, Susan Collins, John Breaux, Robert Bennet, Max Cleland, Wayne Allard, Barbara Mikulski, George Allen, Frank Murkowski

http://www.aipac.org/documents/AIPACletter032502.html

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee met to discuss the division within the United Nations Security Council over how to handle Iraq. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) called the proposed U.N. Security Council resolutions ?paper tigers dealing with the Saddam Hussein that we compared to Hitler.? Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC) observed that ?Saddam Hussein seeks to acquire weapons of mass destruction regardless of any cost to the Iraqi people.? and called on the administration to unify the UN Security Council in its resolve to maintain sanctions. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) went further, calling on the administration to give financial support to Iraqi opposition groups. ?NER?

Thesaurus entry for "paper tiger": http://www.njdc.org/readNews.php?show=230&subcat=3

 http://www.aipac.org/result.cfm?id=373


MR. SAFIRE ARGUES : …That conservative columnists “all were well ahead of late-arriving Lieberman and his tiny band of principled Democrats.”

FACT : Mr. Safire himself, earlier in the same piece, acknowledges the strongly pro-Israel efforts of a virtual “who’s-who” of the leaders of the Democratic Party – Senator John Kerry, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, Senator Charles Schumer, and Senator Joe Lieberman, to name but a few. Mr. Safire later targets Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he cannot even refer to by name – calling her instead New York’s “junior senator.” Mr. Safire seems to somehow “accuse” Senator Clinton of signing the right pro-Israel congressional letters and making the right statements. In Mr. Safire’s world, when Republican leaders make the right statements and sign the right letters, they are true leaders; when Democrats do it, they must be doing so grudgingly. Such a double standard is the hallmark of cheap-shot journalism.

http://www.njdc.org/readNews.php?show=230&subcat=3