Thinking About It
September 28, 2006
by Robert Guttman
“We need to make America be America again,” said Senator John Kerry in a breakfast speech today at the launching of the new Center on Politics and Foreign Relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. In a vigorous denunciation of many of the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee lashed out at the “failed policies” of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Speaking to an audience of 300 students, diplomats and reporters this morning, the Vietnam veteran reiterated that America “must restore our moral authority and global leadership by deploying the full arsenal of our national power with smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances, more effective international institutions - and fidelity to the values we have always stood for as a nation.” Following up on this idea in an interview after his speech the Massachusetts senator harked back to the days of John F. Kennedy when he said America was respected around the world. “President Kennedy’s picture was in every house in Latin America. America was respected around the world for our moral values,” the senator stated. “We aren’t respected today in the world because of Iraq and Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib,” Kerry commented. When asked if this could change with a different administration in the United States he forcefully responded, “It could be changed overnight in 2008 with a new administration.”
Posed with the question: Would a Kerry Administration change the tone in 2008? He was, of course, noncommittal about running for president again at this early date. But, if he continues speaking out as he has been recently with sensible comments on foreign policy, he is definitely going to be a contender in 2008 should he decide to try again for the presidency. In person, he is much more relaxed than he appeared on television during the 2004 presidential campaign. He seems to have found a rhythm to his speech now that he is no longer on the campaign trail. While Kerry wants to call for a date certain to move American troops out of Iraq -- “a clear deadline of July, 2007 to redeploy our combat troops” -- he is in favor of “sending 5,000 more elite U.S. troops to Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden.” He says, “the Administration cut and run from pursuing Osama bin Laden. The Administration is treating Afghanistan as a backwater. We have seven times more troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan where the killers roam free.” In our interview, the senator, a long time member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said, “It is appalling not to find Osama.” I totally agree with his assessment of U.S. policy in Afghanistan. It is quite odd to have more troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan looking for bin Laden who is responsible for 9/11 and nearly 3,000 American deaths. How can the Administration claim success against terrorism when we haven’t caught or killed Osama bin Laden?
Kerry gives convincing arguments for setting a date in Iraq to redeploy American troops and points out that our commitment is not “indefinite." “The President pretends Iraq is the central front on the war on terror. It is not now, and never has been. The truth is, his disastrous decisions have made Iraq a fuel depot for terror - fanning the flames of conflict around the world. There is simply no way to overstate how Iraq has subverted our efforts to free the world from global terror.” Saying “we have to leave Iraq sometime” we should give the Iraqi leaders a deadline because it is only human nature that people react more readily if given a deadline. “Set the date in Iraq,” says the senator. We have “been in Iraq longer than World War II. It is ridiculous.” Slamming Bush's “Katrina foreign policy” of one disaster after another Kerry delivered a very impressive speech which certainly makes one wonder why we are still in Iraq and why we aren’t doing more in Afghanistan where the terrorists who plotted 9/11 and recent terrorist attacks “still roam free”. If Democrats can convince the American voter that they can be tough on defense and national security they can win again. Kerry’s tough speech today at the Center on Politics and Foreign Relations proves that the Democrats - or at least Senator John Kerry - is moving in the right direction on these issues. Robert J. Guttman
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