NYT: Kerry Criticizes President's Troop Plan

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/19kerry.html
"Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars," John Kerry told some 6,000 veterans gathered for the Veterans of Foreign Wars annual convention, in Cincinnati.

Kerry Criticizes President's Troop Plan
By JODI WILGOREN

Published: August 19, 2004


INCINNATI, Aug. 18 - With repeated references to his own service in Vietnam, Senator John Kerry told fellow members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars here on Wednesday that President Bush's plan to move 70,000 troops out of Europe and Asia was vague and ill-advised in view of the North Korean nuclear threat.

"Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars," Mr. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, told some 6,000 veterans gathered for the V.F.W.'s annual convention, where Mr. Bush announced the plan on Monday. "But it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way."

The deployment debate, played out over two days in this imporant swing, was the latest in a string of disagreements over military policy than have dominated the presidential campaign in recent weeks.

Mr. Kerry said he was worried that the withdrawal, now under way, of 12,000 troops from the Korean peninsula would destabilize that area "at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea, a country that really has nuclear weapons."

Having himself called for pumping 40,000 more troops into the armed forces to relieve National Guardsmen and reservists serving overseas, Mr. Kerry said Mr. Bush's proposal "in no way relieves the strain on our overextended military personnel." He quoted Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is much loved in military circles, and said, "This hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitments than it provides real answers."<snip>