John Kerry's Four Point Plan on Winning the Peace in Iraq...

delivered in a foreign policy speech today at Drake University in Iowa...

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2003_1216.html

John Kerry outlined a four-point plan to rally the world’s free and democratic countries into a new coalition to win the peace in Iraq:

I. RETURN TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND OFFER A REAL PARTNERSHIP TO REBUILD IRAQ. John Kerry believes that we must obtain a new Security Council resolution to give the United Nations authority in the rebuilding of Iraq and the development of its new Constitution and government.

II. INTERNATIONALIZE THE TROOPS IN IRAQ. John Kerry will work to expand participation and share responsibility with other countries in the military operations in Iraq. Kerry will also increase the size of the U.S. Army in order to meet the needs of a new century and the new global war on terror. 

III. A REASONABLE PLAN AND A SPECIFIC TIMETABLE FOR TRANSFERRING POLITICAL POWER AND THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR RECONSTRUCTION TO THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ. As President, John Kerry will immediately lay out a concrete plan for the transfer of power to the Iraqi people. This plan will provide a reasonable timetable for a rapid turnover of power to Iraqi authorities. 

IV. REBUILD IRAQI SECURITY FORCES. John Kerry believes that the job of giving Iraqis a sense of security should fall to the new Iraqi security forces and that the United States needs to do a better job of getting this done. 

John Kerry will immediately lay out a concrete plan for the transfer of power to the Iraqi people.

there should be more of an emphasis on working with the iraqi people.
this sounds too much like orders from on high. the iraqi people in the form of the interim counsel should have some input as to when the transfer occurs.

I'm not saying anything bad about Kerry, but this is just the sort of general pap that any politician can mouth, but damn few can take one step further.

If I were running for office, I could have a platform for world peace and an end to hunger. But how do I plan to achieve it? these are important questions. I think they should be asked of all candidates, regardless of party.

The excerpt is part of the outline.

Our armed forces are large enough in size. The problem is that we are spread too thin. The future war on terror is not going to be about regime change and large scale war. It is going to be about pinpoint strikes and SpecOps. The only reason at all that I can see for a larger armed forces is if we saw a chance that China was getting aggressive or if India and Pakistan became each others nuclear playgorunds. Terrorism is not a reason to enlarge our armed forces, it is a reason to train them better.

He recognizes we need a totally different type of Army. The kind you're talking about, but also the peacekeeping troops. The ones who are specifically trained for that purpose.