John Kerry has finally taken a firm stand on the Iraq issue.
"Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama Bin Laden and the terrorists," he said in his speech delivered at New York University."Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions and, if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.
"Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. That was not a reason to go to war. We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure."
Regardless of whether this is a politically prudent move or not, I think this is the right position for Kerry to take. Obviously a great number of his supporters are of this same belief. Having Kerry not take a stance aginst the decision to go to war seemed to be discordant with the ideas expressed by the majority of people who would be voting for him.
Now, of course, Kerry opens himself further to questions of why he voted for the war in the first place if it was a mistake.
A friend of mine recounted to me something that they had heard which is especially applicable to this situation. In life, when one changes their opinion over time when new information becomes avaiable they are called a mature thinker, while one who stands by their beliefs regardless is closed-minded. On the other hand, in politics one who changes their opinion over time gets called a "flip-flopper", while one who stands firm with a single opinion is regarded as a good leader.
In another good example of clarity, Kerry provides a four step plan for Iraq:
- Get more help from other nations
- Provide better training for Iraqi security forces
- Provide benefits to the Iraqi people
- Ensure democratic elections can be held next year as promised.
In my opinion these are good moves all around by Kerry. Although he opens himself up to more flip-flop attacks and may alienate some who think he should be "supporting the war to support the troops" and all that nonsense, this might finally give the election an issue and put Bush on the defensive. The Democrats and the media have not been doing a good enough job of asking the hard questions about the War in Iraq and the War on Terrorism.