Reply #134: Kerry calls for decisions in Iraq

[ProSense]

Posted on Wed, Apr. 05, 2006

Kerry calls for decisions in Iraq

By JAMES KUHNHENN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry called Wednesday for the Bush administration to tell Iraqi leaders to form a unity government by May 15 or face immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops.

Even if Iraq forms a government, Kerry calls for all U.S. combat troops out by year's end, with the remainder housed in garrisons where they would help train Iraqi soldiers, offer backup security and respond to emergencies.

Democratic leaders in Washington have long worried that taking a stand against the war or calling for early withdrawal would label them weak on national security. But Kerry, in an interview with Knight Ridder, said that the stand he's calling for is "tough" and necessary. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee laid out his plan first in an opinion piece published Wednesday in The New York Times. He is scheduled to speak further about his proposal in a speech Thursday from the Senate floor.

“No young American should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians are screwing around unwilling to compromise,” Kerry said in the interview. “So you have to get tough. You have to give them a date. They have only responded to dates.”

“The only way now to get this thing on track, in my judgment, is to be tough and say, ‘Look our young soldiers are not going to lose their lives and our taxpayers aren’t going to pour billions of dollars so you guys can sit around every day and fight with each other.”

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http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14271690.htm