Dec 2001 transcript Re "Big Story"

Here we go. Much ado about absolutely nothing.

CALLER: Hello. Yes, I would like to ask the panel why they don't use napalm or flamethrowers on those tunnels and caves up there in Afghanistan?

KING: Senator Kerry?

CALLER: My golly, I think they could smoke him out.

KING: Senator Kerry?

KERRY: Well, I think it depends on where you are tactically. They may well be doing that at some point in time. But for the moment, what we are doing, I think, is having its impact and it is the best way to protect our troops and sort of minimalize the proximity, if you will. I think we have been doing this pretty effectively and we should continue to do it that way.
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/14/lkl.00.html

Here, from a 2002 GQ article, is Kerry talking about Tora Bora.

"Kerry reads the morning papers as quickly as he does everything else, meaning very quickly, muttering as he flips the pages ("Well, that's not good"), but this morning's grim headlines are stalling him: Colin Powell's Mideast peace mission appears to be floundering, the Boston priest scandal is unraveling, and, worst of all, the Post is reporting that U.S. forces somehow allowed Osama bin Laden to escape during the Tora Bora offensive in Afghanistan, something Kerry had been fearing. Kerry grabs his cell phone, dialing as he reads. "Did you see my story in the Post?" he says to a press aide on the other end. "Top of the fold, page one right." He reads bits of it aloud, sentence after sentence seeming to further stoke his anger; this was the worst-case scenario of a military strategy that Kerry had been quietly criticizing for months. "They let him go," he says. "It's disgraceful."

Swearing softly as we slow through a construction zone, Kerry tells me, by way of explanation, "I've been saying this privately for months now, and my staff at times has had to restrain me. They talk tough, but it's a risk-averse strategy. Bush gets daily briefings, for God's sake. He should be saying, 'Do we need more troops there, here, where? Do we need more firepower?' " He gazes out the car window as the Capitol comes into view. "Osama bin Laden got away," he says glumly. Pause. "You'd think they've learned some lessons in Vietnam."