Flip-Flopping Kerry: His Actual Words

I am getting sick and tired of seeing Kerry talking about the war in Iraq as though he based the entire decision on something that Bush said and now that it turns out that Iraq didn't have WMD, it's somehow all Bush's fault. Sen. Kerry has supported military action against Iraq since well-BEFORE President Bush was even elected into office!

Here are just a FEW samples of Kerry's views on Iraq from the past and up to more recent times... read them, then consider what he says now and decide for yourself:

Dec. 1997: "The Security Council should authorize a strong UN military response that will materially damage, if not totally destroy, as much as possible of the suspected infrastructure for developing and manufacturing weapons of mass destruction... [of] Saddam Hussein..." ("US Lawmakers Threaten Military Action Against Iraq," Agence France Presse, 12/12/97)

Dec. 1998: "Americans need to really understand the gravity and legitimacy of what is happening with Saddam Hussein. He has been given every opportunity in the world to comply. The president does not control the schedule of UNSCOM. The president did not withdraw the UNSCOM inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not complied. Saddam Hussein is pursuing a program to build weapons of mass destruction." (Sen. John Kerry, Press Conference, 12/16/98)

Jan. 2003: "If You Don’t Believe Saddam Hussein Is A Threat With Nuclear Weapons, Then You Shouldn’t Vote For Me." (Ronald Brownstein, "On Iraq, Kerry Appears Either Torn Or Shrewd," Los Angeles Times, 1/31/03)

Mar. 2003: Glen Johnson reported that: "Senator John F. Kerry … had lambasted Bush’s diplomatic efforts, despite voting last fall in support of a congressional resolution authorizing military action to disarm Iraq of any weapons of mass destruction. ‘It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism,’ Kerry said." (Glen Johnson, "Critics Of Bush Voice Support For The Troops," The Boston Globe, 3/20/03)

And just in case you have heard Kerry's other story about his Iraq views... the one where he explains that he is *FOR* the war, but just not how the President conducted it... well, there have been times that he said the war, outright was completely wrong as well:

Oct. 2004: “But the president just arbitrarily brought the hammer down and said nope, sorry, time for diplomacy is over, we’re going.” (Sen. John Kerry, Second Presidential Debate, St. Louis, MO, 10/8/04)

Sep. 2004: "Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Monday called the invasion of Iraq 'the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time'..." (Patricia Wilson, ABCNews, quoting Sen. John Kerry on Sep. 6, 2004)

Oh yeah, and in case you've been mislead into thinking that Kerry believed the President's judgement because the President somehow had access to intel that Kerry didn't... in Kerry's own words, he had access to the intel:

Aug. 2003: NBC's Tim Russert asked, "[Y]ou had access to the intelligence. You had access to the national intelligence estimate …" -- To which, Sen. John Kerry replied, "Absolutely." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 8/31/03)