Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Master of Diplomacy???

While in Des Moines in March, Kerry said during a speech at the downtown Marriott Hotel that Bush has been impatient, which has cost the U.S. support from its allies. "The greatest position of strength is by exercising the best judgement in the pursuit of diplomacy," he said, "not in some trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted, but in a genuine coalition."

Now in September, Kerry called the president's talk about a coalition fighting alongside about 125,000 U.S. troops "the phoniest thing I've ever heard."
He pledged to internationalize the forces in Iraq and do a better job of fighting "a more effective, smarter" war on terror that he said would actually make Americans safer.

Although he declined to set a precise timetable for pulling out U.S. troops, Kerry said it would be possible if certain conditions were met, such as bringing allies to the table to help with security and reconstruction.

Now Georgia, a country now independent of the old USSR. is considering sending troops to Iraq. Putin is being forced to declare war on terror since that terrible event in Beslan with the loss of so many lives, over half of them being children.

Should Kerry be elected, who will he diplomatically encourage to join this oh so much better coalition. France and Germany come to mind. Just how many troops will these two "allies" provide? How much of the economic burden will they lift from the Americans?

How many of the "coerced, bribed, the bought and extorted" in Bush's "phoniest coalition" will choose to work with this diplomat? If I were a leader of one of these countries that has stood with the US, giving what I could in troop strength
and treasury, I surely would think twice about supporting a country whose elected leader has disparaged my nation's efforts again and again.

Kerry repeatedly talks of his great ability to get nations to work together. Let us watch and see if he is able to get his campaign staff to work together. Surely some of his faithful who have borne the brunt of his wrath may be questioning if they want to continue to work with him.


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