and despair. Sorry, but it is that bad. I can't even excerpt this one, it has to be read in it's awful entirety.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-baghdad23oct23,0,361375.story?coll=la-home-headlinesRemember these words from April 6, 2006 when Sen. Allard of Colorado said Kerry was just spiining in order to take advantage of the political tides in America? Remember part of what Kerry said in rebuttal on the Senate floor?
The fact is it's now a civil war, and our troops can't resolve a civil war. No matter how valiant, and they have been, and no matter how courageous, and they have been, and no matter how skilled and they have been. This is the best military I’ve ever seen. These are the best young men and women I’ve ever met, and it's been my privilege to go to Iraq and meet them. And they are making progress in certain areas, but their progress is set back by the unwillingness of Iraqis to pick up the baton of democracy. You have to compromise.
And the whole reason they think they can sit there and not compromise is because the president's policy is just stay the course, stay the course, stay the course. We have an occasional visit by the secretary state or somebody to suggest they ought to do more. Ambassador Khalilzad is -- ambassador call Khalilzad is a terrific person, skilled. He's doing a terrific job, but he can't do this alone.
So I believe we ought to have a real debate about policy, a policy where they told us it would cost $20 billion to $30 billion. Remember that, colleagues?
Remember Mr. Wolfowitz in front of the committees telling us, oh, the Iraqi oil's going to pay for the war.
Remember them telling us that the soldiers were going to be received like conquering heroes with flowers all across Iraq? And then when looting broke out, remember Mr. Rumsfeld standing and saying that Washington is safer than Baghdad and looting happens?
Remember how they didn't even guard the ammo dumps and our kids started to get blown up with the ammo they could have guarded. No planning was put in place.
Anybody who wants to read about Iraq, go read the book "Cobra II," and you can read an astounding story of negligence and malfeasance, misfeasance with respect to this war, companies over billing us, Halliburton, by billions of dollars.
You want to run down the list of things that are egregious with respect to this war?
I tell you one thing I know well, and I’ll remind the Senator from Colorado, half the names on the wall of that Vietnam Memorial, half the names on that wall became names of the dead after our leaders knew our policy wouldn't work.
Well, our policy isn't working today, and I’m not going to be a United States Senator who adds to the next wall wherever it may be put that honors those who served in Iraq so that once again people point to a bunch of names that are added after we knew something was wrong. We have a bigger responsibility than that.
Sen. John Kerry, April 6, 2006 -- from the Congressional Record.
May God have mercy on our collective soul. What have we done in Iraq?
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: