Kerry outlines steps he says needed to win peace in postwar Iraq

[Karmadillo]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/15/politics0254EST0427.DTL

Drawing on his experience in combat and foreign policy, Sen. John Kerry says America needs a president who will not "walk away from a dangerous world" and who will not "walk alone." He pledged to be such a leader if elected president.

In a speech Tuesday at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Kerry criticized President Bush for leading U.S. troops into war in Iraq without support from major European allies, such as Germany and France. Kerry also criticized Howard Dean, without naming him, for Dean's opposition to the war, which Kerry supported.

Speaking a few days after Saddam Hussein's capture, Kerry outlined steps he says the United States should take to establish peace in an Iraq after Saddam.

Although Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, praised the capture and U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, he warned problems for the United States lurk from within.

"On one side is President Bush, who has taken America off onto the road of unilateralism," Kerry says in excerpts of his prepared remarks. "On the other side are those in my own party who threaten to take us off on the road to retreat and retrenchment -- to a kind of new isolationism where the call for a multilateral approach is not a summons to collective security, but an excuse for inaction.

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[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Kerry's definitely pursuing the aggressive angle of defense

He's basically saying, when in doubt, we must act to ensure our safety. It certainly lends consistency to his record the past 10 years.