Ten years ago, Sen. John Kerry said the deaths of U.S. military personnel are justified if they are engaged in a United Nations effort, but not if they die while fighting in a unilateral operation.
The comment was made while discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, the Washington Post reported:
“If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no.”
Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, has been critical of President Bush invading Iraq without the assistance and buy-in of certain European countries, even though the U.S.-led coalition includes over 30 nations.
Bush has criticized his opponent for his insistence that any U.S. military operation pass a “global test” before being conducted.
Kerry detractors have criticized what they characterize as his need to get U.N. permission to use military force.
“What it means, practically, is that you always go to the lowest common denominator,” Tom Donnelly, a defense expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told the Post. “So whatever the least willing member of the coalition is willing to do, that defines the policy.”
