Text 28878, 80 rader
Skriven 2007-05-24 17:51:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Edwards
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Let's see how far these clowns will go. Now I know why the Dems want the 
primaries in February. They hope the public will forget their leftwing 
pandering by November.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070524/ts_nm/usa_politics_edwards_dc_1

Edwards slams war on terrorism as "bumper sticker" 

By Michelle Nichols 
Wed May 23, 8:13 PM ET
 


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S.-led war on terrorism is "a bumper sticker, 
not a plan" that has weakened Washington's global standing, Democratic 
presidential candidate        John Edwards said on Wednesday as he 
unveiled his defense policy plans. 

 
In an address to the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards urged the 
U.S. Congress to use its funding power to force an immediate pullout of 
up to 50,000 U.S. combat troops from        Iraq, then a full withdrawal 
within a year.

Edwards, who was the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate in 
2004, said as president he would close the U.S. military prison in 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, restore the ability of detainees to take legal 
action against unlawful imprisonment and ban torture.

"The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a 
strategy to make America safe. It's a bumper sticker, not a plan," 
Edwards said. "It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in 
the world."

"By framing this as a 'war,' we have walked straight into the trap that 
the terrorists have set -- that we are engaged in some kind of clash of 
civilizations and a war against Islam," said the former senator from 
North Carolina.

In an interview with CNN, Edwards said        President George W. Bush 
and his administration were responsible for        Osama bin Laden still 
being at large.

"The reason there are terrorists actively engaged in what's happening in 
Iraq right now is because of the mess        George Bush and his 
administration have created there," he added.

Bush's homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, dismissed Edwards' 
comments as "irresponsible, ... offensive and outrageous."

"Al Qaeda was active overseas, in places like        Afghanistan and 
around the region, before September 11. Have they taken advantage of the 
chaos in Iraq? Sure they have taken advantage of it. And what we are 
worried about today is the threat to the homeland," Townsend told CNN.

Congress was set to approve on Thursday funds that Bush sought to 
continue the Iraq war. The decision would mark the Democrats' failure to 
impose a timetable for a troop pullout.

In his New York address, Edwards said once the United States has 
withdrawn from Iraq, it must keep sufficient forces in the region to 
prevent a genocide, deter a regional spillover of the civil war and stop 
Iraq from becoming a safe haven for al Qaeda.

He said the United States would most likely need to retain a military 
presence in Kuwait, in the Gulf and in Baghdad to protect the U.S. 
Embassy.

"Finally, we need a diplomatic offensive to engage the rest of the world 
in Iraq's future -- including Middle Eastern nations and our allies in 
Europe," Edwards told a meeting of the New York-based think tank. The 
council has invited all the presidential candidates to speak, and 
Edwards was the first in the series.

(Additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham in Washington)

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