Kerry Talks Policy at NYU
Video still by Natasha Israni.
Video still by Natasha Israni.
Speaking at New York University’s Kimmel Center Monday, Sen. John Kerry outlined his alternative four-point plan for the war in Iraq and on terrorism, and blasted President Bush for misleading the United States into a war without adequate preparation and for squandering international goodwill after 9/11.
Kerry said that as president, he would work internationally to make allies deliver money they promised to rebuild Iraq. He also vowed to better train the Iraqi military and police; to stop corporations that are under investigation for fraud from getting reconstruction contracts; and to hold Pentagon officials accountable for mismanaging Iraq’s reconstruction.
He also said he would improve security and support the U.N. elections mission so that credible elections can be held in January.
Speaking to an audience of more than 1,000 students, Kerry said that only when Iraqis see improvements to their daily lives with real security, can the troops be brought home within four years.
“The president misled, miscalculated, mismanaged every aspect of this undertaking,” he said, which made a stable, secure, and democratic Iraq much harder to achieve than it should have been.
The senator painted a bleak picture of Iraq, saying that whole cities are no-go areas to coalition troops and have become breeding grounds for terrorists. Raw sewage flows through the streets of parts of Baghdad and the unemployment rate has soared to more than 50 percent.
While acknowledging that there had been some progress, with some parts of Iraq now stable, most Iraqis are sitting on the fence, rather than supporting the United States.
While the challenger slammed Bush for starting a war in Iraq, he defended his own vote to authorize the president to invade the country. He said that the Bush administration misused its authority, and should have put pressure on Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. demands to disarm before invading Iraq.
Kerry said that after providing 23 different reasons for war, Bush settled on two reasons: weapons of mass destruction and the Al-Qaeda - September 11 connection. The administration’s own weapons inspectors and the 9/11 commission acknowledged that these reasons were false. “Just last week, Secretary of State Powell acknowledged those facts. Only Vice President Cheney still insists the Earth is flat,” he said.
He attacked Bush for misleading the public into the war. “He didn’t tell us that over a hundred thousand troops would be needed in Iraq for years, not for months. He didn’t tell us that he wouldn’t take the time to assemble a genuine[ly] broad, strong coalition of allies. He didn’t tell us that the cost would exceed $200 billion,” Kerry said.
“Our credibility in the world has plummeted,” Kerry said. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and posed no imminent threat to U.S. security. It had not, as the vice president claimed, reconstituted nuclear weapons, and had no operational ties with Al-Qeada. Iraq has now become a magnet for international terrorism. “The president’s policy in Iraq took our attention and our resources away from more serious threats to America.”
Kerry said that North Korea, which already has weapons of mass destruction and a nuclear arsenal, as well as an emerging nuclear danger in Iran, unsecured chemical and nuclear weapons, and instability in Afghanistan all present greater threats.
He also said that Bush had squandered the trust of the American people who would be less willing to send troops to fight when presented with real threats to security, and the United States would find it harder to create future international coalitions against a common menace.
Kerry pointed to the death of the first 1000 soldiers as a cruel milestone in the war, and referenced that the number of soldiers being killed had been growing in recent months, with 54 soldiers dead in the first half of September.
Kerry honored the duty and patriotism of the soldiers who had fought and died in Iraq, saying that America owed it to them to be honest about why they are fighting and what more will be demanded of them.
“The president’s policy in Iraq has not strengthened our national security; it has weakened it,” Kerry said. “It is not a question of staying the course, but of changing the course. I am convinced, with the right leadership, we can create a fresh start.”
