“WASHINGTON -- In a forthcoming book, Senator Edward M. Kennedy invokes the leadership of his brothers during the Cuban missile crisis to launch a sharp new attack on President Bush, declaring that Bush should have followed the example of President John F. Kennedy and his attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy, in forging a diplomatic resolution to the standoff with Saddam Hussein.” Boston.com
In his soon to be released book titled ''America Back on Track", Kennedy, praises his late brothers for avoiding the advice of the military which urged him to launch a preemptive attack on Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also praises JFK’s and RFK’s use of diplomacy to find resolution in the nuclear showdown.
Kennedy asserts that ''a first strike was inconsistent with American values" and that it would be a ''Pearl Harbor” in reverse. ''Preventive war is consistent with neither our values nor our national security . . . It gives other nations an excuse to violate fundamental principles of civilized international behavior, and the downward spiral we initiate could well engulf the whole planet."
Based on this thesis, Kennedy criticizes the Bush administration throughout the book for the invasion of Iraq. Kennedy was one of the few Democrats voted against. ''War should always be our last resort. Instead, the Bush administration made preventive war an option of first resort," Kennedy writes.
Uncle Teddy’s perspective is consistent with the modern Democratic Party’s flawed pre-9-11 national security mentality. In the age of WMD’s and nuclear proliferation the United States cannot wait to be attacked before acting to defend American citizens. The world has changed and so to must our defense policy. A potential nuclear attack on the United States is far different than Pearl Harbor. Even if mass retaliation were to follow, such an attack would leave the country battered and scared forever.
Kennedy’s historical interpretation of the Cuban Missile Crisis is also inaccurate. JFK was an entirely different kind of Democrat than his drunken brother. JFK was tough on national security in the mold of FDR and Truman. He knew that allowing Soviet missiles in Cuba was an unacceptable threat to the country. He dealt with that evil threat by confronting it, promising the Soviets all out nuclear war if they did not acquiesce. JFK did resist at first the preemptive strike option, however just like President Bush he set and ultimatum after which a military strike would have commenced. It was only the fact that the Russians knew that U.S. action was imminent, that last minute negotiations were successful. The USSR did not want to be destroyed making deterrence possible years ago. However when you are fighting an enemy who wishes to be martyred this strategy will not work.
Like other Democrats Uncle Teddy still does not understand how best to defend the United States from the threat of terrorism and a nuclear attack. The Democrats are no longer the party JFK, they are a party of weak internationalist appeasers. Should Democrats ever regain power, this type of attitude is a serious danger to national security. Kennedy folly is joined by the other Senator from Massachusetts John Kerry who recently suggested on Huffington Post that the U.S. should leave Iraq entirely within 90 days. More and more each days the Democrats are becoming the antiwar anti-defense party. Everyday they are being pulled more and more to the left over the issue of defense. Politically, the Democrats will never win over public support for such weakness.
This post first appeared on The Bully Pulpit! - Fanning The Winds Of Freedom!, please read the originial post: here
