Kerry: Reagan Was Too Tough on Terrorists

Source: NewsMax.com "Kerry: Reagan Was Too Tough on Terrorists"
June 8, 2004 http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/6/8/145812.shtml

Kerry: Reagan Was Too Tough on Terrorists

Beyond trying to torpedo Ronald Reagan's efforts to free Central America from the Soviet threat, Sen. John Kerry objected when Reagan tried to punish terrorists who killed Americans, arguing that a 1986 retaliatory bombing raid against Col. Moammar Gadhafi was too harsh.

After Reagan ordered air strikes on Ghadafi's presidential compound as punishment for Lybia's involvement in a Berlin disco bombing that had killed a U.S. soldier, Kerry wrote to the White House complaining that the response was "disproportional."

"While I stated that my initial inclination was to support the President," Kerry began, "I pointed out that two essential tests had to be met in determining whether or not the U.S. action was appropriate. First, the United States had to have irrefutable evidence directly linking the [Gadhafi] regime to a terrorist act and, second, our response should be proportional to that act."

Kerry's revealing words, first uncovered in February by radio host Sean Hannity for his recent book, "Deliver Us from Evil," painted Reagan as an out-of-control cowboy whose reckless strategy was bound to fail.

"It is obvious that our response was not proportional to the disco bombing and even violated the Administration's own guidelines to hit clearly defined terrorist targets, thereby minimizing the risk to innocent civilians," he complained.

Kerry said it was a "mistake" for Reagan to have targeted the "head of state of another country - no matter how repugnant we find the leader."

"We are not going to solve the problem of terrorism with this kind of retaliation," he warned. "There are numerous other actions we can take, in concert with our allies, to bring significant pressure to bear on countries supporting or harboring terrorists."

Here's the full text of Kerry's letter blasting Reagan as it appears in Hannity's book "Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism":

"While I stated that my initial inclination was to support the President, I pointed out that two essential tests had to be met in determining whether or not the U.S. action was appropriate. First, the United States had to have irrefutable evidence directly linking the Qaddafi regime to a terrorist act and, second, our response should be proportional to that act. The evidence was irrefutable that the Qaddafi regime was behind the Berlin disco bombing which claimed the lives of two innocent victims and injured 200 others.

"However, as to the second test, it is obvious that our response was not proportional to the disco bombing and even violated the Administration's own guidelines to hit clearly defined terrorist targets, thereby minimizing the risk to innocent civilians. I believe it was a mistake for us to select as targets areas of heavy civilian concentration, as well as to include the family and home of the head of state of another country - no matter how repugnant we find the leader.

"The fact that the bombing resulted in the deaths of at least 17 civilians certainly undermined the Administration's own justification for the raid. Beyond this point, however, is the fact that we are not going to solve the problem of terrorism with this kind of retaliation. There are numerous other actions we can take, in concert with our allies, to bring significant pressure to bear on countries supporting or harboring terrorists."


Joyce Notes: THE END OF KERRY. Evidently Democrat candidate Lurch the stiff, wants the United States to coddle terrorists instead of put them out of business like President George W. Bush and his 1980s predessor former President Ronald Reagan do. Lurch would ultimately kiss up to them and make the United States vulnerable to blackmail by weaking our defense. If this doesn't spell trouble to you, then you should be living in the Europe where they follow weak defense and are always crumbling under terrorist blackmail. Not a good position to be in, but that's where Kerry wants to take the United States.