# Harwich veteran to run against Kerry



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By Steve Urbon
Standard-Times senior correspondent
November 03, 2007 6:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD - Jeffrey K. Beatty, former Army Delta Force officer and CIA/FBI agent, told area Republicans this week that he not only is the best bet to unseat U.S. Sen. John Kerry next year, but that he will soon disclose a plan he says could have the United States out of Iraq "within two years with a win for the U.S."
At the same time, the 55-year-old Harwich resident and security expert lamented that Bay State Republicans "have forgotten how to win" elections, and need to volunteer, contribute and vote to reverse their fortunes.
Mr. Beatty, who now heads his own security firm, leans hard on his extensive military credentials and accuses Sen. Kerry of voting for the Iraq war resolution for the expedient purpose of polishing his reputation in advance of his run for president in 2004.
"John Kerry doesn't have a plan" for Iraq, Mr. Beatty told an audience of about 50 at a luncheon gathering of the Republican Club of Southeastern Massachusetts, meeting Tuesday at the Wamsutta Club.
"It's not the critic that counts, but the man in the arena," he said. "John Kerry doesn't have the experience against the enemies we face." He held up his own experience in making security preparations for the Olympics and other venues both before and after Sept. 11, 2001.
He said he has a plan, which he will detail on Veterans Day, under which "we will leave Iraq with success for Americas and the American military." And he said his campaign, now in the exploratory stage, is a "perfect storm: a weak incumbent and a qualified challenger."
"Defeating John Kerry is a rallying cry," he said, citing privately conducted Zogby poll results showing himself about even with the incumbent in a head-to-head matchup.
Asked about his use of the word "success" rather than "victory" in Iraq, Mr. Beatty said it refers to "any outcome that Al Qaeda would find unfavorable or unsuccessful for them." That includes, he said, preventing the creation of a "Taliban state in our wake."
After his talk, Mr. Beatty became irritated when pressed by a reporter to answer whether the United States practices torture, and whether waterboarding constitutes torture.
"It depends on what you mean by waterboarding," said the veteran of the military's torture survival training that includes waterboarding. Most people, he asserted, couldn't define it, and he declined to. He also said he hasn't seen evidence that the U.S. practices what would be considered torture.
"I favor humane treatment," was his summation. But he repeatedly refused specifically to address waterboarding, a technique in which a captive is strapped to a board and partially drowned to induce the fear of death, a method used for centuries around the world.
His answer hewed closely to that of U.S. attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey, who has frustrated the Senate by refusing to tell the Senate whether he believes waterboarding is torture, and that he didn't know the details of what the questioners meant by it.
Mr. Beatty, whose first political foray was a run against U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., said he is "disappointed in what passes for representation" of Massachusetts in Congress.
He took aim at Sen. Kerry for voting for the Iraq resolution for what he charged were purely personal reasons, "to make him look presidential."
"He was willing to put our sons and daughters and neighbors and friends on the line. They were nothing more than collateral damage," he said.
He also charged that Sen. Kerry "abandoned working families for his new constituency, illegal immigrants."
"John Kerry's plan is to give amnesty to lawbreakers," Mr. Beatty said. His own objective is to enforce the immigration laws, prosecute violators, and deny all benefits to illegals.

On the Web: www.jeffbeatty.com

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/NEWS/711030341


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