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Jeff Beatty on War & Peace
Republican Senate challenger
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Kerry failed to read vital intelligence reports pre-Iraq war
Beatty accused Kerry of having "blood on his hands" over his vote to send U.S. troops into Iraq during a fiery televised debate last night. A combative Beatty launched a vicious verbal assault after Kerry snorted at Beatty's claim that he failed to read
vital intelligence reports before voting for the war. "Don't laugh. It's not a joke," fumed Beatty, a counterterrorism consultant and former CIA agent. "You knew. You knew when you voted for that war that we didn't have what we needed for the war...
and you didn't care because it was always about getting elected president. You have got blood on your hands."Kerry branded Beatty's attack "insulting and frankly disgusting." He said his vote was based on intelligence reports presented to him by forme
CIA director George Tenet and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The candidates agreed the United States should withdraw from Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan, while working to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons.
Source: 2008 MA Senate Debate reported in the Boston Herald
Oct 20, 2008
Evidence for WMD in Iraq was not credible
Beatty sees Kerry's vote to go to war as a decision based on "personal gain"--for example, in preparation for running for President--instead of national interests. Beatty said his CIA experience makes him believe the evidence for weapons of mass
destruction was not credible. As a veteran himself and a friend to families of soldiers killed or wounded in Iraq, he thinks the decision to go to war did not consider the impact on families of the men and women who had to implement that decision.
Source: By Lucy R. Sprague Frederiksen, Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle
Aug 13, 2008
Iraq invasion was a mistake, but we can't leave now
Q: You said you would not have voted as the Senate did six years ago to authorize the invasion of Iraq. Do you still hold that opinion?A: Absolutely. I think it was a mistake, I thought it was a mistake at the time. I don't have to say with hindsight,
Source: Dedham Times Interview
Jul 16, 2008
Leave Iraq with success, by any path
We can't just turn around and leave [Iraq] because they will recruit like crazy. They will be able to say, 'We defeated the Americans'. They will bring people to their side. The consequences for us will be severe if we do not leave
Iraq with some sort of success.There's more than one way to get a success. I'll support any path that I believe allows us to leave with a success. You almost define success as anything that the terrorists would define as not a success for them.
Source: Dedham Times Interview
Jul 16, 2008
Prays for the success of our troops in Iraq
The War on Terror: Military planning to end terror and return our troops: Jeff supports and prays for the success of our troops in Iraq (many of his personal friends have served there,
Afghanistan and elsewhere). Jeff has planned for and participated in combat operations and knows the seriousness of committing Americans to combat.
Source: Campaign website, www.jeffbeatty.com, "Issues"
May 2, 2008
Page last updated: Dec 02, 2008