In regards to the editorial titled “No concern here” by Ms. Julie Andrus, I believe she should take some of her own advice when looking at the candidates for president before criticizing Mr. Jared Jensen for his “faulty” political reasoning. Hear this Jared out. She said to look at “Kerry’s opinions of…foreign policy.” We have to look no further than his Senate record on perhaps the most important and encompassing foreign policy issue of the 2004 election cycle: Iraq.
Senator Kerry voted for the resolution that authorized the President to send troops to Iraq, acting on a policy of regime change adopted by the Clinton Administration. However, he did not vote for the $87 billion appropriation to fund the war. Now what kind of foreign policy is this and what message does it send? Senator Kerry is more than willing to send troops to war, but he is not willing to show some courage, like he did in the battlefields of Vietnam, to financially support them to finish the task he voted to send them do! He should know better than any presidential candidate what it takes to win a war because he saw exactly what not to do in Vietnam. This is not Bush’s War. It is just as much Senator Kerry’s and the rest of the House and Senate that voted for the resolution authorizing Saddam Hussein’s removal. Kerry is a sheet in the wind as far as foreign policy is concerned especially with Iraq.
He clearly is not the best candidate for the job. At least candidates like Governor Dean and Senator Lieberman, no matter how extreme or moderate, have the wherewithal to stick to their guns when it may not be politically advantageous to do so. She claimed that “his voting record show(ed) courage.” I think it shows blatant political opportunism and pandering to a constituency that will not deliver him the White House. Ms. Andrus, I hope you will reconsider your vote. Mine will be cast for the incumbent.
Jared Larsen
Burley, Idaho
