Post by ErinB on Jun 2, 2004 3:35:46 GMT -5
Gore speaks for a growing silent majority
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-helent28mayjun02,0,7120852.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean
By Helen Thomas
Hearst Newspapers
Posted June 2 2004
Finally, a loud and clear voice of opposition against the unprovoked Iraqi war from an American statesman.It came from former Vice President Al Gore, who has given the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry a needed shot in the arm. Gore also could have been speaking for a growing silent majority.
In a fiery, eloquent speech last week at New York University, Gore shamed the "go along, get along" Democrats, including Kerry, who had been soft pedaling the issue of the war and the damage it has done to our name and prestige in the world.
Kerry has played it so safe that he has brought his own leadership into question.The Kerry camp is obviously not happy that a gloves-off Gore took the lead, showing their candidate up for timidity. But the vice president -- who spent years in Congress and eight years as vice president -- knows there is too much at stake in terms of depleted U.S. honor and moral authority to play politics now.
Often reticent and diplomatic in demeanor in the past, Gore has changed course. He is a free man now, with no axe to grind or office to seek -- free to pinpoint America's dilemma of being trapped in a war it cannot win in the traditional sense, despite all its military might.
Gore blasted President Bush for bringing "deep dishonor" to this country and "humiliation in the eyes of the world" by invading Iraq."
The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United States," he declared.
Gore's speech reflects the same frustration many Americans feel with a White House, which misled the nation into war.
Gore scoffed at Bush's promise of a foreign policy "with humility" or his promise "to change the tone in Washington." He also charged that the president's decision not to honor the Geneva Convention led to the depraved military treatment of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners of war.
Irate over the direction the nation is being led, Gore was not afraid to name names and call for the resignations of several top figures in the Bush administration. Among those he wants to step down are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, undersecretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz, CIA Director George Tenet, national security affairs adviser Condoleezza Rice, Douglas Feith, undersecretary for defense policy, and Stephen Cambone, undersecretary for defense intelligence.
Of course. that is not going to happen, but Gore's hit list takes in persons who have been very much involved in the tragic turn in American foreign policy.
"To begin with, from its earliest days in power, this administration sought to radically destroy the foreign policy consensus that had guided America since the end of World War II," Gore said. He noted that the successful U.S. policy of "containment" -- which helped win the Cold War -- had been replaced with a new strategy of "pre-emption," which allowed the nation to take unilateral military action against a nation that we now know didn't pose a threat to our security.
Such a policy is a clear violation of international law, but when Bush announced his new aggressive military strategy a couple of years ago, there were few outcries.
In a recent commencement address at the New School University in New York City, Theodore C. Sorenson, former speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy, attacked Bush policies and recalled after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that Kennedy said at American University: "The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate. We want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just." That was more than 40 years ago; Gore is saying the same thing today. He deserves an ovation.
Helen Thomas can be reached at via e-mail at hthomas@hearstdc.com.
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-helent28mayjun02,0,7120852.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean
By Helen Thomas
Hearst Newspapers
Posted June 2 2004
Finally, a loud and clear voice of opposition against the unprovoked Iraqi war from an American statesman.It came from former Vice President Al Gore, who has given the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry a needed shot in the arm. Gore also could have been speaking for a growing silent majority.
In a fiery, eloquent speech last week at New York University, Gore shamed the "go along, get along" Democrats, including Kerry, who had been soft pedaling the issue of the war and the damage it has done to our name and prestige in the world.
Kerry has played it so safe that he has brought his own leadership into question.The Kerry camp is obviously not happy that a gloves-off Gore took the lead, showing their candidate up for timidity. But the vice president -- who spent years in Congress and eight years as vice president -- knows there is too much at stake in terms of depleted U.S. honor and moral authority to play politics now.
Often reticent and diplomatic in demeanor in the past, Gore has changed course. He is a free man now, with no axe to grind or office to seek -- free to pinpoint America's dilemma of being trapped in a war it cannot win in the traditional sense, despite all its military might.
Gore blasted President Bush for bringing "deep dishonor" to this country and "humiliation in the eyes of the world" by invading Iraq."
The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United States," he declared.
Gore's speech reflects the same frustration many Americans feel with a White House, which misled the nation into war.
Gore scoffed at Bush's promise of a foreign policy "with humility" or his promise "to change the tone in Washington." He also charged that the president's decision not to honor the Geneva Convention led to the depraved military treatment of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners of war.
Irate over the direction the nation is being led, Gore was not afraid to name names and call for the resignations of several top figures in the Bush administration. Among those he wants to step down are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, undersecretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz, CIA Director George Tenet, national security affairs adviser Condoleezza Rice, Douglas Feith, undersecretary for defense policy, and Stephen Cambone, undersecretary for defense intelligence.
Of course. that is not going to happen, but Gore's hit list takes in persons who have been very much involved in the tragic turn in American foreign policy.
"To begin with, from its earliest days in power, this administration sought to radically destroy the foreign policy consensus that had guided America since the end of World War II," Gore said. He noted that the successful U.S. policy of "containment" -- which helped win the Cold War -- had been replaced with a new strategy of "pre-emption," which allowed the nation to take unilateral military action against a nation that we now know didn't pose a threat to our security.
Such a policy is a clear violation of international law, but when Bush announced his new aggressive military strategy a couple of years ago, there were few outcries.
In a recent commencement address at the New School University in New York City, Theodore C. Sorenson, former speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy, attacked Bush policies and recalled after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that Kennedy said at American University: "The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate. We want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just." That was more than 40 years ago; Gore is saying the same thing today. He deserves an ovation.
Helen Thomas can be reached at via e-mail at hthomas@hearstdc.com.
