The Candidates Don't Have An Anti-Terror Plan

[DrFunkenstein]

DETROIT - John Kerry and Wesley Clark, with their star-spangled military records, argued Sunday night that they'd make a better commander in chief than the current one. In doing so, the Democrats tried to turn President Bush's prosecution of the war on terrorism into a liability — a course that could prove risky if they can't articulate their own vision.

"There's a huge credibility gap our party has on national security — not because we don't have enough military medals, but because we have no plan of action," said Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.

Said Brazile: "I think they're hiding behind their medals. They haven't shown any new tactics or strategy or vision."

"These guys are trying to expose Bush's Achilles heel," Coleman said. "But that's only going to get them so far."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=10&u=/ap/debate_analysis

I don't buy that for a second. Not only does Kerry have a plan for hunting down terrorists and black-market proliferation, he has an economic plan for "draining the swamps" of terrorists.

A combination of harsh political repression, economic stagnation, lack of education and opportunity, and rapid population growth has proven simply explosive. The streets are full of young people who have no jobs, no prospects, no voice. State-controlled media encourage a culture of self-pity, victimhood and blame-shifting. This is the breeding ground for present and future hostility to the West and our values.

From this perspective, it's clear that we need more than a one-dimensional war on terror. Of course we need to hunt down and destroy those who are plotting mass murder against Americans and innocent people from Africa to Asia to Europe. We must drain the swamps of terrorists; but you don't have a prayer of doing so if you leave the poisoned sources to gather and flow again.

We as Americans must be agents of hope as well as enemies of terrorism. The globalization of the last decade taught us that simple measures like buying books and family planning can expose, rebut, isolate and defeat the apostles of hate so that children are no longer brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers and terrorists are deprived the ideological breeding grounds.

We should build on the success of Clinton Administration's Jordan Free Trade Agreement. Since the United States reduced tariffs on goods made in "qualifying industrial zones," Jordan's exports to the US jumped from $16 to $400 million, creating about 40,000 jobs. Let's provide similar incentives to other countries that agree to join the WTO, stop boycotting Israel and supporting Palestinian violence against Israel, and open up their economies.

We should also create a general duty-free program for the region, just as we've done in the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the Andean Trade Preference Act. Again, we should set some conditions: full cooperation in the war on terror, anti-corruption measures, non-compliance with the Israel boycott, respect for core labor standards and progress toward human rights.

Let's be clear: Our goal is not to impose some western free market ideology on the greater Middle East. It's to open up a region that is now closed to opportunity, an outpost of economic exclusion and stagnation in a fast-globalizing world.

These countries suffer from too little globalization, not too much. Without greater investment, without greater trade within the region and with the outside world, without the transparency and legal protections that modern economies need to thrive, how will these countries ever be able to grow fast enough to provide jobs and better living standards for their people?

But as we extend the benefits of globalization to people in the greater Middle East and the developing world in general, we also need to confront globalization's dark side.We should use the leverage of capital flows and trade to lift, not lower, international labor and environmental standards.

We should strengthen the IMF's ability to prevent financial panics from turning into full-scale economic meltdowns such as we've seen in Argentina. And in the Middle East especially, we need to be sensitive to fears that globalization will corrupt or completely submerge traditional cultures and mores. We can do these things.

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/spc_2003_0123.html

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[blm]

1. Considering that Kerry wrote a book in 97 about the new war on terror

and his team includes Gary Hart (Hart-Rudman report) who studied terrorism for Clinton for 2 1/2yrs., Rand Beers who left Bush's NSA for its inability to focus on terrorism, and Gen, William Perry who is an expert on proliferation and N. Korea, the implication that he can't handle the war on terror is an ABSURDITY!

[displacedtexan]

2. knowing where the congressional bodies are buried is also helpful!

kerry has been around long enough to know how repukes like delay et al work: who has squeezed whom in exchange for what in negotiating bills, committee assignments, and lobbying relationships.

i want a prez who's in the loop, has military experience, and is a proven statesman. let's face it. this is not 1992. we're running against pure eeeeeeee-vil this time. they've had 12 years to plan and practice!

[salin]

3. Donna Brazille... working hard to get that next dem. consulting gig

... right. Maybe that cordial friendship with Rove is just tainting the perception a bit? Even if not - this was a good thing to push in the press... for who? Oh- for building your stock as a pundit to be able to get more paid media gigs, perhaps?

Hate it when our own - take potshots at us.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. Good place to shine the flashlight

so that those without a clue on this can go scurrying....

[izzie]

5. No 1 find out what the hell they are mad about.

If any one has a reason to do things these people have or think they have. The army may not know why it is in Iraq but the guy blowing him up has his reason.You do not kill your self unless you do.