John Kerry is unequivocally opposed to Bush's absurd "Troop Surge" gamble in Iraq

[beachmom]

John Kerry appeared both on The Today Show and on NPR to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

Links here for The Today Show:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/20/125158/50

And NPR:

http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/12/21st_century_security.html#more

Let's be crystal clear what Senator Kerry said:

GREGORY: More troops would not do enough in your estimation to shore up Baghdad and at least give the Maliki government a fighting chance?

KERRY: Not without a fundamental political resolution. I think you could put 100,000 troops and you're going to up the casualties, up the stakes, increase the violence and not get a resolution.

And here's a longer excerpt from the transcript, just so it's straight with everyone:

GREGORY: But how can you have that if you can't have basic security? Everybody talks about politics, but there's trash piled up on the streets, there's an inability on the part of the government to just stop the killing, to provide basic services.

KERRY: Well, let me tell you, I had a chance to get out of the Green Zone and I met with troops in various parts of the country who, incidentally, are extraordinary in doing a remarkable job. And they have a real point of view about that. I mean, they're going out on these patrols, they're doing a great job. But unless the Sunnis/Shia fundamental divide begins to be resolved -- and I think you're seeing steps taken to do that.

There is this new coalition that's being built. There's an effort to try to bring reconciliation together. The Arab League is going to be involved. King Abdullah is involved. Others are involved.

That is the key, not troops. More troops will not resolve the problem of Iraq. And you won't end the violence. What'll happen is you'll create a larger, more prominent target in the absence of the kind of political solution that's needed.

GREGORY: You talked about the politics. Over all, having been in Iraq, do you think the war is winnable? And how would you define success?

KERRY: Fundamental stability and transformation of responsibility to the Iraqis as fast as possible .

I still am committed to the notion that the way you do this the most effectively is to have a date targeted for the withdrawal of forces in order to shift responsibility.

But nothing is going to resolve Iraq without this fundamental political reconciliation. You have a divide between Sunni and Shia. And you have criminal elements. You have ex-Baathist elements. You've just got an enormous historical cultural problem. And the only way to overcome it is with major assistance from outside countries and from us to get that political resolution.

Kerry will not support a surge of troops in Baghdad. Capice?