Mark Kennedy on War & Peace Former Republican Representative (MN-6, 2001-2007)

Must focus on victory in Iraq, not on retreat

KENNEDY: The real question is: Are we focusing on victory, and making sure that Iraq doesn’t become a sanctuary for terrorists to regroup and attack America again? Or are we focusing on how to retreat out of there as fast as we can? We’ve made mistakes in Iraq and no one likes war. But we need to understand how detrimental it would be to our security if we did not succeed in Iraq. That’s why I’m very concerned when I hear Ms. Klobuchar say the answer is diplomacy, and that we ought to negotiate. With who? How are you going to negotiate with al Qaeda? How are you going to negotiate with Iranian-sponsored terrorists?

FITZGERALD: This conflict cannot be solved with military action. The conflict needs the withdrawal of our troops immediately.

KLOBUCHAR: I believe it’s time to transition to Iraqi authority and let this government run its own country. The way you do this is not by adding more troops. It’s by beginning to bring our troops home, or to redeploy them.

Listen to military in Iraq, not politicians in Washington

KENNEDY: We need to listen to the commanders in the field. If they say we need more troops, than I want to make sure they have more troops. We ought not to be listening to Washington politicians. We ought to be listening to what the commanders in the field say is important for victory. I have visited Iraq three times, and I called for the Iraq Study Group [for that purpose].

FITZGERALD: I have not had the opportunity to have a taxpayer-funded junket to Iraq, but I have had the opportunity to talk to military families who have said that this is falling solely on their shoulders. This war is being fought with other people’s children, and is being fought with other people’s children’s money. We have borrowed every single dollar that we have sued to fight this war to the tune of $330 billion so far. That’s immoral and irresponsible government.

Reject “more-of-the-same” in Iraq; favor “adapt-to-win”

The now popular “adapt-to-win” language among Republicans is a phrase that the head of the Republican Party promoting late last summer as an alternative to President’s Bush’s often-repeated “stay the course.”

Wrong on prediction of significant troops home in 2006

KENNEDY: I said in February that we expected troops [to return home]. We have less troops, not as much [less] as I would like; we’ve run into tougher patches.

Q: Why can’t you say you were wrong?

KENNEDY: I was wrong in the significant number, I was right in terms of the fact that there are less troops

We were over-optimistic, but making progress in Iraq

“On the whole, the trend [in Iraq] is very positive. Our troops face a collection of terrorists and thugs, of whom there are fewer each day.”

KENNEDY: Were we potentially a bit optimistic? Possibly. And we’ve seen more challenges than we expected, no question. But if you look at what’s happened, we have trained 300,000 Iraqi troops. We have a unity government.

Q: 10 months ago you said “Progress was clear, we’re making great strides.“ Why shouldn’t voters in Minnesota say, ”Kennedy is wearing rose-colored glasses and saying, ‘Everything’s fine. We’re making progress.’“

KENNEDY: I never said everything’s fine, but we are making progress.

Q: You said, ”It’s very positive“?

KENNEDY: Each year I go back to Iraq, I see a government that is further down the path of addressing serious issues. Their military is more fully developed and taking over more and more of the responsibilities for us.

Stands by his vote for war in Iraq; no rewinding history

KENNEDY: We acted on the information that we knew at the time.

Q: But knowing what you know today, would you still vote?

KENNEDY: You can’t really play TiVo and rewind in the real world, but let me just say this: First of all, I stand by my vote. And second of all, we just got done talking about Korea. We just got done talking about consequences for actions. Seventeen UN resolutions. If we had let one of the top sponsors of terrorists, that was paying thousands of dollars to those families that had suicide bombers, if we had let 17 UN resolutions go by, what chance would we have of North Korea or China paying any attention to the resolution just passed yesterday?

Q: So you’d still go into Iraq?

KENNEDY: I stand by my vote. We can’t rewind. We acted on the information we knew at the time and acted correctly.

Iraq is a central front in the war on terror

KLOBUCHAR: I have never been one to say “Bring them all home tomorrow.” We have to be responsible about how we bring our troops home.

KENNEDY: She’s also come out against a bill funding body armor for our troops that a majority of Democrats join me in supporting. We have no higher priority than to support our troops in time of war, and we have to win this war on terror.

KLOBUCHAR: Of course I support body armor for our troops, I support winning this war on terror by being smart. We need to transition to Iraqi governance.

No specific timetable for withdrawal from Iraq

KENNEDY: I reject a specific timetable. At every stage along the way, we ought to say, “Is there adjustments we need to be making?’ We have been making adjustments. Ms. Klobuchar says the solution is diplomatic and political; but you can’t negotiate with people that are ruthless and glory in killing innocent women and children. We need to make sure that terrorists can’t win so that we can bring our troops home as quickly as possible.

Q: No matter how long it takes?

KENNEDY: We need to make sure that the terrorists can’t win. We cannot let Iraq became a sanctuary for terrorists.

Q: And you believe this war can be won militarily?

KENNEDY: There’s no question that we need to also prod the political forces within Iraq, as we have been. But, these are steps that need to be pushed politically, but they can’t be done if we’re saying, “We’re going to pull our troops away.”

KLOBUCHAR: This is just more of the same. We need to change course.

We must win or terrorism will mushroom

KENNEDY: Let’s talk about what the 16 agencies said. They said that we are clearly activating terrorists in Iraq, having taken the challenge to them. But they also said we have to prevail. If we don’t prevail, it will greatly mushroom this threat, let it grow in size, and come to face our future generations. They said that if we, if we lose, that’s what will happen; if we win, we will greatly degrade what’s happening on the other side.

Foment democracy in Iran

Keep military option open for preventing Iran nukes

A: We need to leave all options on the table and do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran from moving in the direction of having nuclear weapons.

Q: Would that include military options?

A: We need to keep ALL options on the table

Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date.

Voting YES would support the following resolution (excerpted):
• Whereas the United States and its allies are engaged in a Global War on Terror, a long and demanding struggle against an adversary that is driven by hatred of American values and that is committed to imposing, by the use of terror, its repressive ideology throughout the world;
• Whereas the terrorists have declared Iraq to be the central front in their war against all who oppose their ideology;
• Whereas the United States and its Coalition partners will continue to support Iraq as part of the Global War on Terror:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
• Honors all those Americans who have taken an active part in the Global War on Terror;
• Declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq;
• Declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq;
• Declares that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the noble struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.

Voted YES on approving removal of Saddam & valiant service of US troops.

1. affirms that the United States and the world have been made safer with the removal of Saddam Hussein and his regime from power in Iraq;
2. commends the Iraqi people for their courage in the face of unspeakable oppression and brutality inflicted on them by Saddam Hussein's regime;
3. commends the Iraqi people on the adoption of Iraq's interim constitution; and
4. commends the members of the U.S. Armed Forces and Coalition forces for liberating Iraq and expresses its gratitude for their valiant service.

Voted YES on authorizing military force in Iraq.

Solidarity with Israel in its fight against terrorism.

• [The United States] expresses solidarity with Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas; and

• Commits to Israel's right to self-defense and support for additional U.S. assistance.

• Condemns the recent wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and the ongoing support and coordination of terror by Yasir Arafat and other members of the Palestinian leadership.

• Demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas.

• Expresses concern that Arafat's actions are not those of a viable partner for peace.

• Urges all Arab states to declare their unqualified opposition to all forms of terrorism, particularly suicide bombing, and all parties in the region to pursue peace in the Middle East.

• Commends the President for his leadership in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

• Encourages the international community to take action to alleviate the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.