MyDD Interview with John Kerry (excerpt on cutting funding, Iraq and Iran)

[ProSense]

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Singer: Speaking about national security issues, specifically the issue of Iraq, what do you see going forward in terms of Senate action, Congressional action with Iraq. Senator Obama seemed to indicate in an Associated Press interview that he felt that the Senate would fund the war no matter what.

Kerry: No, I'm against funding the war no matter what. And today I've joined up with Senator Harry Reid and Senator Feingold. The only thing we should fund is to complete the training of the troops, to prosecute against Al Qaeda and to protect American forces and facilities and interests in the region.

We should not be engaged in Civil War in Iraq. And I would vote a year from now, which is the date we said we should be redeploying our troops, we ought to be cutting off those other activities.

Singer: In terms of Iran the administration seems to be ramping up pressure instead of taking the engagement route. What can you do and what will you do in the Senate to try to ensure that we don't go to war with Iran?

Kerry: First of all, I think the administration would be hard pressed to go to war with Iran right now, both physically and politically. Physically, because we're overstretched in Iraq and everybody knows it. And I think you'd have the generals and a whole bunch of people be unbelievably reluctant to just sort of pick some willy nilly fight with Iran right now. That's different if they should do something to provoke it. It's different if they do something aggressive and proactive. You have to respond and do what you have to do. But right now this administration needs to deal diplomatically more intelligently and rebuild its credibility so the world understands what the stakes are. And I will do everything in my power to make sure they don't run off half cocked and leverage some kind of a confrontation that's inappropriate.

Singer: Specifically the House Democratic leadership removed language that would that would say that the President has to come back to Congress. Would you like to see such language...

Kerry: No. Look, there's a constitutional balance here. The President knows the limits of the War Powers Act. The President has the authority to defend the nation. He's the commander in chief. If there's a legitimate reason for the President to do something, he doesn't have to come back to Congress to do an immediate emergency response. On the other hand if the President thinks he's going to walk up to it like he did with Iraq, he's got to think again, because there's no way the Congress is going to let that happen.

link (to more and audio)

[ProSense]

1. Kerry's response to Bush's press conference,

posted here.