FactCheck.Org

It is an interesting website. When you enter the website you see Holding Politician Accountable which is something that in my view we desperately need. Below that is a statement from former Democratic Senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan:

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.

There is an article in FactCheck.Org entitled: Bush Ad Twists Kerry's Words on Iraq which is about a Bush ad. In the Bush ad Kerry is shown saying

It was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision I supported him.

In fact there is something missing here and that is the statement before the above sentence in Kerry's answer to George Stephanopoulos's question. Lets look at the whole conversation between Kerry and George Stephanopoulos as stated in FactCheck.Org:

Q: And Senator Kerry, the first question goes to you. On March 19th, President Bush ordered General Tommy Franks to execute the invasion of Iraq. Was that the right decision at the right time?

Kerry: George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him.

Another Kerry's statement that is taken out of context in Bush ad is the following:

I have always said we may yet even find weapons of mass destruction.

Let me quote the following paragraph from FactCheck.Org. You may judge yourself!

Nine months of fruitless searching have gone by since Kerry said on Dec. 14, 2003 that weapons of mass destruction might yet be found in Iraq. But what's most misleading about the Bush ad's editing is that it takes that remark out of a long-winded -- but still consistent -- explanation of Kerry's overall position on Iraq:

The exchange was on Fox News Sunday, with host Chris Wallace:

Q: But isn't it, in a realistic political sense going to be a much harder case to make to voters when you have that extraordinary mug shot of Saddam Hussein...looking like he's been dragged into a police line-up?

Kerry: Absolutely not, because I voted to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. I knew we had to hold him accountable. There's never been a doubt about that. But I also know that if we had done this with a sufficient number of troops, if we had done this in a globalized way, if we had brought more people to the table, we might have caught Saddam Hussein sooner. We might have had less loss of life. We would be in a stronger position today with respect to what we're doing.

Look, again, I repeat, Chris, I have always said we may yet even find weapons of mass destruction. I don't know the answer to that. We will still have to do the job of rebuilding Iraq and resolving the problem between Shias and Sunnis and Kurds. There are still difficult steps ahead of us.

The question that Americans want to know is, what is the best way to proceed? Not what is the most lonely and single-track ideological way to proceed. I believe the best way to proceed is to bring other countries to the table, get some of our troops out of the target, begin to share the burden.