June 20, 2003
Drudge quotes Kerry out of Context
In a story that is most likely to be brought up in political debate around the country the Drudge Report says that Sen. Kerry warned of Iraq’s WMD back in 1997, but if you actually read what he said you’ll see Kerry was quoted out of context.
“It is not possible to overstate the ominous implications for the Middle East if Saddam were to develop and successfully militarize and deploy potent biological weapons.” (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255)
Hey Drudge, notice the "if" in that sentence? He's not warning or even promoting the fact that Iraq had/has WMD's. Throughout the article the quotes support a stance ANY American would stand by: IF it was found that Iraq possessed WMD and was actively manufacturing such weapons then we should use military action, even if the UN doesn't go along.
Things get even more hairy now that it is being suggested that Intelligence was used "selectively" by the British and most likely the US. The fact is Kerry never said he believed Iraq had WMD's, he only stated the obvious; if Iraq had WMD they would be in breach of UN sanctions and should be dealt with accordingly.
Posted by joestump at June 20, 2003 07:52 AMDrudge misquoting doesn’t exactly qualify as a revelation ;)
He has been very honest (in the past, I don’t know if he still is) about the fact that he doesn’t bother to check accuracy, all he cares about is “juicy” stories and at least in the beginning identified himself as basically a gossip columnist. And we know how reliable those are.
Posted by: rev_matt_y at June 20, 2003 01:39 PMWell, I hate to burst your bubbles out there,
but Kerry DID say he believed that saddam had WMD…. something he was correct in assuming..
and I QUOTE…
“In 1991, the world collectively made a judgment that this man should not have weapons of mass destruction. And we are here today in the year 2002 with an un-inspected four-year interval during which time we know through intelligence he not only has kept them, but he continues to grow them… .The threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but as I said, it is not new.”
Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.), Foreign Relations member Floor speech, Oct. 9,
2002
That quote includes a time reference that can
be researched; a location and occasion. Well,
liberals, all you have left now is just to
ignore this. You can’t deny it; it’s
irrefutable. It “happened”.
