John Kerry was against the war after he was for it, before he stopped being against it, prior to supporting it

National Review, Oct 11, 2004

* John Kerry was against the war after he was for it, before he stopped being against it, prior to supporting it. That is the recent history of Kerry's Iraq positions. At least he seems now to have settled on more or less forthright opposition to the war, although he still insists, however illogically, that he would vote again to authorize it.

Kerry can make forceful critiques of Bush's handling of the post-war occupation--since there are many mistakes and difficulties for him to hammer--but his proposed remedies are either illusory (help from Jacques Chirac) or duplicative of Bush policy (train Iraqis, spend on reconstruction). Where Kerry is distinctive is in his increasing willingness to flirt with doing George Aiken one better, and recommend that in Iraq we declare defeat now and go home.