Senator John Kerry, D-Mass.
Los Angeles, CA
February 27, 2004
It's an honor to be here today at the Burkle Center
- named in honor of a good friend and one of America's
outstanding business leaders.
Day in and day out, George W. Bush reminds us that he is a war
President and that he wants to make national security the central
issue of this election. I am ready to have this debate. I welcome
it.
I am convinced that we can prove to the American people that we
know how to make them safer and more secure - with a
stronger, more comprehensive, and more effective strategy for
winning the War on Terror than the Bush Administration has ever
envisioned.
As we speak, night has settled on the
mountains of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. If Osama
bin Laden is sleeping, it is the restless slumber of someone who
knows his days are numbered. I don't know if the latest
reports - saying that he is surrounded - are true or
not. We've heard this news before.
We had him in our grasp more than two
years ago at Tora Bora but George Bush held U.S. forces back and
instead, called on Afghan warlords with no loyalty to our cause to
finish the job. We all hope the outcome will be different
this time and we all know America cannot rest until Osama bin Laden
is captured or killed.
And when that day comes, it will be a great step forward but we
will still have far more to do. It will be a victory in the War on
Terror, but it will not be the end of the War on Terror.
This war isn't just a manhunt - a checklist of names
from a deck of cards. In it, we do not face just one man or one
terrorist group. We face a global jihadist movement of many groups,
from different sources, with separate agendas, but all committed to
assaulting the United States and free and open societies around the
globe.
As CIA Director George Tenet recently testified: "They are
not all creatures of bin Laden, and so their fate is not tied to
his. They have autonomous leadership, they pick their own targets,
they plan their own attacks."
At the core of this conflict is a fundamental struggle of ideas.
Of democracy and tolerance against those who would use any means
and attack any target to impose their narrow views.
The War on Terror is not a clash of civilizations. It is a clash
of civilization against chaos; of the best hopes of humanity
against dogmatic fears of progress and the future.
Like all Americans, I responded to President Bush's
reassuring words in the days after September 11th. But since then,
his actions have fallen short.
I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the War on
Terror; I believe he's done too little.
Where he's acted, his doctrine
of unilateral preemption has driven away our allies and cost us the
support of other nations. Iraq is
in disarray, with American troops still bogged down in a deadly
guerrilla war with no exit in sight. In Afghanistan, the area outside Kabul is sliding
back into the hands of a resurgent Taliban and emboldened
warlords.
In other areas, the Administration has done nothing or been too
little and too late. The Mideast Peace
process disdained for 14 months by the Bush Administration is
paralyzed. North Korea and Iran
continue their quest for nuclear weapons - weapons which one
day could land in the hands of terrorists. And
as Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld has admitted, the Administration
is still searching for an effective plan to drain the swamps of
terrorist recruitment. The
President's budget for the National Endowment for
Democracy's efforts around the world, including the entire
Islamic world, is less than three percent of what this
Administration gives Halliburton - hardly a way to win the
contest of ideas.
Finally, by virtually every measure,
we still have a homeland security strategy that falls far short of
the vulnerabilities we have and the threats we face.
George Bush has no comprehensive strategy for victory in the War
on Terror - only an ad hoc strategy to keep our enemies at
bay. If I am Commander-in-Chief, I would wage that war by putting
in place a strategy to win it.
We cannot win the War on Terror through military power alone. If
I am President, I will be prepared to use military force to protect
our security, our people, and our vital interests.
But the fight requires us to use every tool at our disposal. Not
only a strong military - but renewed alliances, vigorous law
enforcement, reliable intelligence, and unremitting effort to shut
down the flow of terrorist funds.
To do all this, and to do our best, demands that we work with
other countries instead of walking alone. For today the agents of
terrorism work and lurk in the shadows of 60 nations on every
continent. In this entangled world, we need to build real and
enduring alliances.
Allies give us more hands in the struggle, but no President
would ever let them tie our hands and prevent us from doing what
must be done. As President, I will not wait for a green light from
abroad when our safety is at stake. But I will not push away those
who can and should share the burden.
Working with other countries in the War on Terror is something
we do for our sake - not theirs. We can't wipe out
terrorist cells in places like Sweden, Canada, Spain, the
Philippines, or Italy just by dropping in Green Berets.
It was local law enforcement working with our intelligence
services which caught Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramsi Bin al Shibh
in Pakistan and the murderer known as Hambali in Thailand. Joining
with local police forces didn't mean serving these terrorists
with legal papers; it meant throwing them behind bars. None of the
progress we have made would have been possible without cooperation
- and much more would be possible if we had a President who
didn't alienate long-time friends and fuel anti-American
anger around the world.
We need a comprehensive approach for prevailing against terror
- an approach that recognizes the many facets of this mortal
challenge and relies on all the tools at our disposal to do it.
First, if I am President I will not hesitate to order direct
military action when needed to capture and destroy terrorist groups
and their leaders. George Bush inherited
the strongest military in the world - and he has weakened it.
What George Bush and his armchair hawks have never understood is
that our military is about more than moving pins on a map or buying
expensive new weapons systems.
America's greatest military
strength has always been the courageous, talented men and women
whose love of country and devotion to service lead them to attempt
and achieve the impossible everyday.
But today, far too often troops are
going into harm's way without the weapons and equipment they
depend on to do their jobs safely. National Guard helicopters are
flying missions in dangerous territory without the best available
ground-fire protection systems. Un-armored Humvees are falling
victim to road-side bombs and small-arms fire.
And families across America have had
to collect funds from their neighbors to buy body armor for their
loved ones in uniform because George Bush failed to provide
it.
The next President must ensure that
our forces are structured for maximum effectiveness and provided
with all that they need to succeed in their missions. We must
better prepare our forces for post-conflict operations and the task
of building stability by adding more engineers, military police,
psychological warfare personnel, and civil affairs
teams.
And to replenish our overextended
military, as President, I will add 40,000 active-duty Army troops,
a temporary increase likely to last the remainder of the
decade.
Second, if I am President I will strengthen the capacity of
intelligence and law enforcement at home and forge stronger
international coalitions to provide better information and the best
chance to target and capture terrorists even before they act.
But the challenge for us is not to cooperate abroad; it is to
coordinate here at home. Whether it was September 11th or
Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, we have endured
unprecedented intelligence failures. We must do what George Bush
has refused to do - reform our intelligence system by making
the next Director of the CIA a true Director of National
Intelligence with real control of intelligence personnel and
budgets. We must train more analysts in languages like Arabic. And
we must break down the old barriers between national intelligence
and local law enforcement.
In the months leading up to September 11th, two of the hijackers
were arrested for drunk driving - and another was stopped for
speeding and then let go, although he was already the subject of an
arrest warrant in a neighboring county and was on a federal
terrorist watch list. We need to simplify and streamline the
multiple national terrorist watch lists and make sure the right
information is available to the right people on the frontlines of
preventing the next attack.
But we can't take any of those steps effectively if we are
stuck with an Administration that continues to stonewall those who
are trying to get to the bottom of our September 11th intelligence
failures. Two days ago, the Republican Speaker of the House Dennis
Hastert refused the request of the bipartisan 9-11 commission for
just a little more time just to complete their mission. This after
the Commission has had to deal with an Administration that opposed
its very creation and has stonewalled its efforts.
He didn't hesitate to pick up the phone and call Denny
Hastert to ram through his Medicare drug company benefit or to
replace a real Patients Bill of Rights with an HMO Bill of Goods.
This President told a Republican fundraiser that it was in the
"nation's interest" that Denny Hastert remain
Speaker of the House. I believe it's in America's
interest to know the truth about 9-11. Mr. President, stop
stonewalling the commission and stop hiding behind excuses. Pick up
the phone, call your friend Denny Hastert and tell him to let the
commission finish its job so we can make America safer.
Third, we must cut off the flow of
terrorist funds. In the case of Saudi
Arabia, the Bush Administration has adopted a kid-glove approach to
the supply and laundering of terrorist money. If I am President, we will impose tough financial
sanctions against nations or banks that engage in money laundering
or fail to act against it. We will launch a "name and shame"
campaign against those that are financing terror. And if they do
not respond, they will be shut out of the U.S. financial
system.
Fourth, because finding and defeating
terrorist groups is a long-term effort, we must act immediately to
prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear, chemical, or biological
weapons. I propose to appoint a high-level Presidential envoy
empowered to bring other nations together to secure and stop the
spread of these weapons. We must develop common standards to make
sure dangerous materials and armaments are tracked, accounted for,
and secured. Today, parts of Russia's vast nuclear arsenal
are easy prey for those offering cash to scientists and security
forces who too often are under-employed and under-paid. If I am
President, I will expand the Nunn/Lugar program to buy up and
destroy the loose nuclear materials of the former Soviet Union and
to ensure that all of Russia's nuclear weapons and materials
are out of the reach of terrorists and off the black
market.
Next, whatever we thought of the Bush
Administration's decisions and mistakes - especially in
Iraq - we now have a solemn obligation to complete the
mission, in that country and in Afghanistan. Iraq is now a
major magnet and center for terror. Our forces in Iraq are paying
the price everyday.
And our safety at home may someday soon be endangered as Iraq
becomes a training ground for the next generation of
terrorists.
It is time to return to the United Nations and return America to
the community of nations to share both authority and responsibility
in Iraq, and take the target off the back of our troops. This also
requires a genuine Iraqi security force. The Bush Administration
simply signs up recruits and gives them rudimentary training. In a
Kerry Administration, we will create and train an Iraqi security
force equal to the task of safeguarding itself and the people it is
supposed to protect.
We must offer the UN the lead role in assisting Iraq with the
development of new political institutions. And we must stay in Iraq
until the job is finished.
In Afghanistan, we have some NATO
involvement, but the training of the Afghan Army is insufficient to
disarm the warlord militias or to bring the billion dollar drug
trade under control. This Administration has all but turned away
from Afghanistan. Two years ago, President Bush promised a Marshall
Plan to rebuild that country. His latest budget scorns that
commitment.
We must - and if I am President, I will - apply the
wisdom Franklin Roosevelt shared with the American people in a
fireside chat in 1942, "it is useless to win battles if the
cause for which we fight these battles is lost. It is useless to
win a war unless it stays won." This Administration has not
met that challenge; a Kerry Administration will.
But nothing else will matter unless we win the war of ideas. In
failed states from South Asia to the Middle East to Central Africa,
the combined weight of harsh political repression, economic
stagnation, lack of education, and rapid population growth presents
the potential for explosive violence and the enlistment of entire
new legions of terrorists. In Saudi
Arabia and Egypt, almost sixty percent of the population is under
the age of 30, unemployed and unemployable, in a breeding ground
for present and future hostility. And according to a Pew
Center poll, fifty percent or more of Indonesians, Jordanians,
Pakistanis, and Palestinians have confidence in bin Laden to
"do the right thing regarding world affairs."
We need a major initiative in public diplomacy to bridge the
divide between Islam and the rest of the world. For the education
of the next generation of Islamic youth, we need an international
effort to compete with radical Madrassas. We have seen what happens
when Palestinian youth have been fed a diet of anti-Israel
propaganda. And we must support human rights groups, independent
media and labor unions dedicated to building a democratic culture
from the grass-roots up. Democracy won't come overnight, but
America should speed that day by sustaining the forces of democracy
against repressive regimes and by rewarding governments which take
genuine steps towards change.
We cannot be deterred by letting
America be held hostage by energy from the Middle East. If I am
President, we will embark on a historic effort to create
alternative fuels and the vehicles of the future - to make
this country energy independent of Mideast oil within ten years. So
our sons and daughters will never have to fight and die for
it.
Finally, if we are going to be serious about the War on Terror,
we need to be much more serious about homeland security. Today,
fire departments only have enough radios for half their
firefighters and almost two-thirds of firehouses are short-staffed.
We should not be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them
down in New York City. We need to put 100,000 more firefighters on
duty and we need to restore the 100,000 police on our streets which
I fought for and won in 1994 but which the Bush Administration has
cut in budget after budget.
We need to provide public health labs with the basic expertise
they need but now lack to respond to chemical or biological attack.
We need new safeguards for our chemical and nuclear facilities.
And our ports - like the Port of Los Angeles - need
new technology to screen the 95 percent of containers that now
enter this country without any inspection at all. And we should
accelerate the action plans agreed to in US-Canada and US-Mexico
"smart border" accords while implementing new security
measures for cross border bridges. President Bush says we
can't afford to fund homeland security. I say we can't
afford not to.
The safety of our people, the security of our country, the
memory of our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, neighbors
and heroes we lost on September 11th call on us to win this war we
did not seek.
And our children's future demands that we also do
everything in our power to prevent the creation of tomorrow's
terrorists today. Maybe there's no going back to the days
before baggage checks and orange alerts. Maybe they're with
us forever. But I don't believe they have to be. I grew up at
a time of bomb shelters and air raid drills. But America had
leaders of vision and courage in both parties. And today, the Cold
War is memory, not reality.
I believe we can bring a real victory in the War on Terror. I
believe we must, not only for ourselves but for all who look to
America as "the last best hope of earth." I believe we
can meet that ideal - and that's why I'm running
for President.
