Foreign Policy Expert Backs John Kerry

[AmyStrange]

Foreign Policy Expert Backs John Kerry
By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer

FROM: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040614/ap_on_el_pr/beers_profile&cid=694&ncid=2043
WASHINGTON - Randy Beers sat on the porch steps next to his longtime friend and colleague Dick Clarke and the words came tumbling out in a torrent. "I think I have to quit. ... I can't work for these people. I'm sorry, I just can't."

It was a few days before the start of the Iraq (news - web sites) war in March 2003, and Beers was President Bush (news - web sites)'s special assistant for combating terrorism, a job he had held for only a matter of months. But Beers was no newcomer to government; he had worked on foreign policy for four presidents.

To Clarke, Beers recited a list of complaints about Bush's foreign policy. Too fixated on Iraq. Not enough focus on al-Qaida. Weak on homeland security. Too political.

In public, Beers, 61, said only that he was quitting for personal reasons.