Kerry: Post 9/11 Policy Hasn't Made World Safer (Sept. 06)

[ProSense]

September 9, 2006

Post 9/11 Policy Hasn't Made World Safer

Rather than occupying Iraq, We Must Destroy Al Qaeda

Boston Herald
By John Kerry

Five years after September 11th, where are we? Bogged down in Baghdad, beleaguered around the world, and bitterly divided at home.

Democrats have a unique responsibility not just to oppose what has failed but to propose a new course that can defeat jihadist terrorism once and for all.

There are many things we can and must do better, but there are five steps to start: redeploy from Iraq, re-commit to Afghanistan, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reform our homeland defense, and restore America's moral leadership in the world. These are five bold steps Democrats would take to strengthen our national security, and that the Republicans who have set the agenda resist to our national peril.

We must refocus our military efforts from the failed occupation of Iraq to destroying al Qaeda. Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines and we must set another deadline to get Iraq up on its own two feet: July, 2007. We also need real diplomacy. Only through negotiation can you stem the growing civil war. Redeploy troops from Iraq -- maintain training forces and an over the horizon capacity, and free up resources to fight the war on terror.

We can't sustain the delusion that the war in Afghanistan is over. On Thursday the president said we're on the offensive against terrorists in Afghanistan, even as the NATO commander made a desperate plea for more troops to stop a major Taliban offensive. We must send significant reinforcements to Afghanistan: at least 5,000 more troops, equipment, and reconstruction funds so that the United States, not the Taliban, rebuilds the new Afghanistan.

Third, we are threatened not just by gun barrels, but by oil barrels. The great treasury of jihadist terrorism is mideast oil. We fund both sides in the war on terror every time we fill up or gas tanks. We must liberate the Middle East from the tyranny of dependence on petroleum, so that the region is no longer isolated from the global economy. Nothing will change if autocratic regimes are kept in power by pumping prosperity out of the ground and paying off their own people with petrodollar welfare checks. We must end the Empire of Oil. We need a comprehensive strategy to break our oil addiction.

Fourth, to make America safe we must reform our homeland defense. President Bush this week said that Osama bin Laden and the terrorists plan to target America's ‘weak points.' Our weak points--our borders, our chemical plants, our railways -- remain weak because this administration has had the wrong priorities. For the cost of one week in Iraq, we could purchase the equipment to scan every cargo container bound for U.S. ports to protect against weapons of mass destruction. We need to rapidly reorient the FBI to focus on counterterrorism at home. We need to reopen the Bin Laden unit at the CIA, which the Administration inexplicably disbanded. The 9/11 Commission found that 15 of the 19 hijackers who attacked us should have been intercepted by border authorities. we need border security backed by immigration.

Lastly, we must restore our moral authority by deploying the full arsenal of our national power with smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances, more effective international institutions -- and fidelity to our values. We must remember the great lesson of the Cold War when we led the world to confront a common threat.

There are five specific steps to make the world safer. Let the real debate begin about how to win the war on terror.

link

"Staying the course" isn't far-sighted; it's blind. Leaving our troops in the middle of a civil war isn't resolute; it's reckless.

[Demit]

1. "every time we fill up or gas tanks"? Somebody needs a proofreader.

[karynnj]

3. A rather petty comment

ignoring all issues of substance.

[Demit]

6. LOL! Sorry you think so. But how one present one's ideas matters.

[blm]

4. Yeah - the Boston Herald.

.

[Demit]

5. That's what I thought, but both links take you to Kerry's website.

[blm]

7. Oh - so it was copied incorrectly by the website or did they clip from Herald?

.

[Demit]

26. Beats me.

[wisteria]

2. "Leaving our troops in the middle of a civil war isn't resolute;it's reckless."

That line just gets to me every time I read it.

[Clarkie1]

8. Kerry still doesn't get it: It's not about a failed Iraq, it's about the entire region.

The other points he makes are good ones, but he still hasn't progressed in his thinking to seeing it as a regional issue, and a potentially catastrophic regional failure we must mitigate.

Edit: noting that this was published in September 06', I would be interested to see if Kerry still has the same view now. The situation is constantly changing, which is another reason why tiimelines make no sense. We need a stragegy on the ground in the region responding to changes as they occur, not a Washington-driven timeline with no relation to events on the ground.

[ProSense]

9. You think not:

December 8, 2005

Real Security in the Post-9/11 World

Excerpts of Senator Kerry's speech to the Council on Foreign Relations

[Clarkie1]

10. This makes Kerry's support of a Washinton-driven timeline even more puzzling.

I can only conclude it is put there for domestic political consupmtion, as it does not fit into his strategy of addressing the problem regionally. We can't address the problem regionally if we take away the leverage we have now off the table.

[ProSense]

12. So now you're accusing Kerry of playing politics?

Despicable!

[Clarkie1]

15. I'm leaving it open as a possiblity. nt

[karynnj]

29. You stated it point blank in at least 2 posts I've seen

Kerry has explained why he wants a deadline - you can disagree with it, but it takes a hell of a lot of chutzpah to state that it is for political reasons - especailly because in April when he called for it, it was NOT a popular idea. It is far more popular now - because Kerry sold the idea.

You would not want people accusing Clark of playing politics, when he most likely isn't - give Kerry the same respect.

[wisteria]

14. letting the Iraqi's know we can not stay indefinitely and setting goals

that put the Iraqi's on notice. They have got to want to come together and live in peace, we can not continue to keep it for them. Give them to tools they need, send in the best trainers and place the burden of keeping the peace on the Iraqi's. I think of a timetable as an ultimatum, we have to force their hand.

[Clarkie1]

18. You are looking at it as if the problem is an Iraqi problem.

It's not...it's a regional problem.

[ProSense]

19. Here's a problem:

IRAQ TO AMERICA: GET OUT....

[karynnj]

30. It is primarily an Iraqi problem to govern Iraq

The fact that any diplomatic solution requires using the neighbor doesn't change that.

[wisteria]

11. Oh, he gets it. We are ineffective and weak while we remain in Iraq as we

are currently. We don't scare the Syrians nor the Iranians. They know we are bogged down. We are ineffective. We would have more power supporting the Iraqi's through over site and redeployment and not being distracted by the civil war in Iraq.
I am not going to bash Clark, but I don't see everyone incorporating his ideas into any plan. many of Kerry's suggestions are being quietly used or being considered. Perhaps, if they both came together we could have a great plan.

[Clarkie1]

13. This makes sense...

"We need to focus all of our energies on making 2006 the year in which we turn over that struggle to our partners within Iraq, and do everything possible to give the next Iraqi government the local, regional, and global legitimacy it needs to survive and thrive. I've set out a series of steps we could take to eliminate the perception of a permanent military occupation, and achieve the political solution our generals say we need to weaken the insurgency, isolate the foreign jihadists, and bring Iraq stability."

One of the most important steps we can take to elimate the perception of permanent military occupation is loudly and publically commit to having no permanent military bases in Iraq. The question I have after reading Kerry's short blurb on Iraq provided here is, what are his steps?

Now, if by series of steps he means Washington-driven timeline to have full redeployment by July 2007, that makes no sense. Redeployment must happen in relation to events on the ground. The problem can't be solved over here in a Senate committee, it has to be solved over there with real diplomacy on the ground, using carrots and sticks.

Yes, I do agree, and Clark would agree, with much of what Kerry is saying. That's what makes it all the more puzzling that Kerry has handicapped his ideas for regional dialogue with an insistance on a Washington-driven timeline, although I note he makes no mention of the July timeline in this link. Has he changed his mind? To me, the idea of making the most of regional diplomacy and setting a Washington deadline for redeployment are self-contradictory.

[wisteria]

16. His plan is flexible and based on factors and conditions on the ground.

I have got to say, two great minds like Clark and Kerry have got to come up with something better than Baker and McCain.

[Clarkie1]

17. O.K., fair enough. In that case why even talk about July 2007?

How does that increase our leverage with Syria, Iran, and factions within Iraq to announce our intent...some in this thread have gone so far as to proclaim it an "ultimatum" to redeploy all our troops by July 2007?

Do you really think Iran and Syria are going to be more likely to engage us if we issue such an "ultimatum?"

[wisteria]

22. It's a reasonable date to begin with. The path the Iraqi's chose

should be more than clear by then. It is either going to get better or it is going to get worse.

[blm]

27. Kerry's plan was ALL ABOUT INCLUDING the REGION'S LEADERS and the

leaders of the insurgency.

Why would you think he was being only Iraqcentric when you have read his withdrawal plans before? Regional summit ala Dayton Summit ring a bell? It's always been part of the formula. He has even promoted the idea of the world's religious leaders to summit - all of them, and has pressed for this since after 9-11.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mass]

21. Enjoy your short stay at DU.

[wisteria]

23. Pitty you can't see or speak the truth for all the RW lies you have swallowed. .

Get educated about the real Senator Kerry. The truth is out there.

[ProSense]

24. Iraq: over 3,700 civilians killed in October in new monthly high, UN reports

Iraq: over 3,700 civilians killed in October in new monthly high, UN reports

[LittleClarkie]

25. Prosense you should put all of these in your journal

You do such an awesome job that it would be nice to see all of these in one place

[ProSense]

28. Thanks! Done! n/t