In reply to:

Why are all the anti-war people voting for Kerry? Hasn't he publicly stated that he will continue the war in Iraq, and perhaps even expand the number of troops we have on the ground there?




Kerry has no choice but to continue the war. To pull out now would prove disastrous in Iraq. Bush got us into this mess, but quite frankly I don't trust him to get us out of it. And frankly putting more troops on the ground makes sense in speeding up the process of training Iraqis and hastening our exit.

In reply to:

Why support one pro-war candidate over another? Wouldn't you rather have the guy who believes the cause is just in charge - rather than the guys who uses the war to inflame the anti-war voters, uses the war for loitical posturing, undermines our leaders and troops, encourages the enemy, but nominally supports the war? The war is a done deal - why change the current Pres, nat'l security advisor, secretaries of defense, state and homeland security, in favor of a DIFFERENT group of pro-war leaders?




Why change? Because, for one, we believe the current president and his administration have made a lot of very big mistakes in dealing with this war, and in turn have refused to acknowledge those mistakes or opposing opinions, even when coming from highly knowledgable people. The war on terror is legitimate. The war in Iraq was not, in the eyes of many Americans, the next logical step in the war on terror. The administration used bad information to send our men and women to die and that war has cost us $200 BILLION.

Not only is it clear that the administration vastly underestimated the costs of this war, they also vastly underestimated just how hard this war would be to win. Beforehand they were predicting a 60 day war. Well over a year and a half later we're still there. Arguments from military brass that stated we needed more troops were largely ignored. Fairly extreme torture tactics (by Western standards) were approved by high-ranking officials for use on Iraqis, for little more than intimidation purposes. And to top it all off, Iraq has become a breeding ground for terrorists more than it ever was before. A seemingly forgotten aim of terrorism is to invite retribution, because it will rally the indigenous people to your cause. LOTS of scholars and military experts were speaking out on this well before the US went into Iraq.

I could go on - and that's only dealing with Iraq! Don't get me started on domestic issues... What it boils down to for me is this: this administration has been so pigheaded in it's stubborness, so unwilling to listen to opposing opinions, has made some very big mistakes, admitted so few of them, and been so disdainful of open communication with it's public (they're even deleting transcripts from the official White House website that contain quotes that aren't in line with their "vision") that I feel it absolutely necessary to change.

Is Kerry absolutely the best candidate for the job? No. But I have no doubt in my mind that he is better than Bush.