Kerry's Speech at CFR: Real Security in the Post 9/11 World

John Kerry: Real Security in the Post 9/11 World
December 8th, 2005

Today, John Kerry is delivering a speech on the war on terror at the Council on Foreign Relations. The Democratic Daily has obtained an advanced copy of the text of Kerry’s speech:

Senator John Kerry: “Real Security in the Post-9/11 World”
Council on Foreign Relations, New York City
December 8, 2005 - Remarks As Prepared For Delivery

So much of what we used to take for granted in national security policy has now been called into question.

We used to know that despite our differences in philosophy and in perspective our two great parties could cooperate to craft international policies in our national interest.

We used to understand that the vast and unique role of the United States in world affairs required a far-sighted and multi-faceted approach to protecting our people and our interests.

We used to value as a national treasure the international alliances and institutions that enhanced our strength, amplified our voice, and reflected our traditions and ideals in maintaining a free and secure world.

We used to measure America’s strength and security by our moral authority, our economic leadership, and our diplomatic skills, as well as by the power of our military.

And we used to say politics stopped at the water’s edge–we used to call on our people to share in the sacrifices demanded by freedom, and our leaders used to raise hopes and inspire trust, not raise fears and demand blind faith.

All that has changed in a remarkably brief period of time.

In recalling what we’ve lost, I’m not looking back to the Greatest Generation of World War II–or to the leaders who shaped our Cold War policies, and wore down the threat of totalitarian communism. I’m not talking about thirty or forty or fifty years ago–I’m talking about what we had just four short years ago.

After September 11th, the American people, elected officials from both parties, and much of the whole world offered the President of the United States their loyal support when he announced our intention to wage a global war on terror. Not since the bombing of Pearl Harbor has a president enjoyed a greater reservoir of moral and political capital, or more material and diplomatic resources, at the beginning of a war.

Four years later, our reservoir of resources has been diminished and our goodwill has been squandered. And as the 9/11 Commission’s final report has just told us, Washington is failing to take the basic steps necessary to make us safe. It is an inexplicable abdication of responsibility.

So where do we go from here?

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1340

It is being taped - just not broadcast unfortunately.

From John Kerry's 11/30: "The president says no war has ever been won on a timetable - and I say to him: No war has ever been won with sound-bites. No war has ever been won by keeping the American people in the dark. No war has ever been won without a clear strategy.

The American people and the Iraqi people want the administration to detail a plan to bring our troops home."


John Kerry's Veterans Day response Speech 11/14:
http://demradio.senate.gov/actualities/kerry/kerry051115_floor.mp3

http://democrats.senate.gov/av/kerry/111405_kerry_floor.rm

http://www.kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/record.cfm?id=248761


FROM ABCNOTE 12/8 on Today's Kerry Speech
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238

<snip>Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) delivers a speech entitled, "Real Security in the Post-9/11 World" at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City at 1:00 pm ET.

"The speech includes some arguments on Iraq, but it's focused on winning the broader war on terror — including 'ending the empire of oil,' making sure our side wins the war of ideas and ideologies in the Greater Middle East, and destroying terrorist cells," a senior Kerry aide tells The Note.

Here is an excerpt of Kerry's remarks as prepared for delivery: "The real war on terror is an even bigger challenge. This war has drawn us smack into the middle of an internal struggle in the Islamic World — a struggle ultimately for the transformation of the Greater Middle East into a region that is no longer isolated from the global economy, no longer dependent on despotism for stability, no longer fearful of freedom, and no longer content to feed restive and rising populations of unemployed young people a diet of illusions and excuses."

Kerry's speech comes after he has been quietly traveling and meeting all over the country with the military leadership and national security experts of his campaign, including General Hoar last week in San Diego.

He'll come from the right on regimes that are unresponsive to their own people, and from the right regarding Washington's failure to do much of anything that would undermine the flow of oil — a bipartisan problem. <snip>

NPR: John Kerry Lays Out Plan for Iraq Pullout
December 8th, 2005

In a follow up to his speech today at the Council on Foreign Relations, John Kerry read an essay on his Plan for an Iraq Pullout, on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ this afternoon.

“Our troops in Iraq are among the finest American’s who have ever served, and they’re doing so heroically. But frankly it’s long overdue for those troops to have civilian leadership equal to their sacrifice.”

Listen here. - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1347