Mr. Flip, Meet Mr. Flop

"I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election... [It] would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists"

That's none other than today's foremost proponent of fixed timetables, Sen. John Kerry, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in December 2003.

Related Tags: Iraq, Troop withdrawal, Politics, Kerry