Positions and Views of John Kerry
on Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iraq
| Previous Candidate for U.S. Senate, Massachusetts |
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| Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iraq |
Positions and Views |
| Iraq, a General Statement |
According to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, alliances and international institutions are now disposable--and international institutions are dispensable or even despicable.
According to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, we cannot foreswear the fool's gold of information secured by torturing prisoners or creating a shadow justice system with no rules and no transparency.
According to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, unwarranted secrecy and illegal spying are now absolute imperatives of our national security.
According to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, those who question the abuse of power question America itself.
According to the Bush-Cheney doctrine, an Administration should be willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on the Iraq war, but unwilling to spend a few billion dollars to secure the American ports through which nuclear materials could make their way to terrorist cells.
According to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, executive powers trump the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.
According to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, smearing administration critics is not only permissible, but necessary--and revealing the identity of a CIA agent is an acceptable means to hide the truth.
The raw justification for abandoning so many American traditions exposes the real danger of the Bush-Cheney Doctrine. We all understand we are in a long struggle against jihadist extremism. It does represent a threat to our vital security interests and our values. Even the Bush-Cheney Administration acknowledges this is preeminently an ideological war, but that's why the Bush-Cheney Doctrine is so ill-equipped to fight and win it.
And so there's the crowning irony: the Bush-Cheney Doctrine holds that many of our great traditions cannot be maintained; yet the Bush-Cheney policies, by abandoning those traditions, give Osama bin Laden and his associates exactly what they want and need to reinforce their hate-filled ideology of Islamic solidarity against the western world.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| US Military Presence in Afghanistan |
Afghanistan has become a forgotten front in the war on terror. Al Qaeda is regrouping and strengthening. Twice as many American soldiers have died in combat so far this year than in all of last year. John Kerry will ensure that America finishes the job we started in Afghanistan, and that the country receives the security, political, and economic resources it needs. He will:
- Expand NATO Beyond Kabul. As president, Kerry will exercise real leadership by getting NATO to accelerate the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) outside Kabul and commit to sustaining an expansion of its troops beyond the election period.
- Stop the Drug Trade. Poppy production has exploded over the past three years, fueling continued instability. Afghanistan now accounts for 75% of global opium production. To stop the booming drug trade, Kerry will, among other things, double counter-narcotics assistance and expedite the growth of an Afghan counter-narcotics force whose specific mandate is to track down and destroy Afghanistan's druglords as well as their drug infrastructure and drug processing facilities.
- Expedite the Warlord Disarmament and Reintegration Program. The presence of large warlord militias -- with as many as 60,000 fighters across the country -- is the principle cause of insecurity and a challenge to the authority of the Karzai government. Kerry will provide increased support -- including back-up military support where necessary -- to crucial disarmament and demobilization efforts.
- Improve Security Training. Only by strengthening Afghan security capabilities can Afghanistan be truly safe and secure. Kerry will strengthen critical security training initiatives, including bolstering support to the Afghan National Army and national police training programs.
Source: Candidate Website (10/02/2004) |
| Iraq Policy |
The War in Vietnam and the War in Iraq are now converging in too many tragic respects.
As in Vietnam, we engaged militarily in Iraq based on official deception.
As in Vietnam, we went into Iraq ostensibly to fight a larger global war under the misperception that the particular theater was just a sideshow, but we soon learned that the particular aspects of the place where we fought mattered more than anything else.
And as in Vietnam, we have stayed and fought and died even though it is time for us to go.
We are now in the third war in Iraq in as many years. The first was against Saddam Hussein and his supposed weapons of mass destruction. The second was against terrorists whom, the administration said, it was better to fight over there than here. Now we find our troops in the middle of an escalating civil war.
Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion. We want democracy in Iraq, but Iraqis must want it as much as we do. Our valiant soldiers can't bring democracy to Iraq if Iraq's leaders are unwilling themselves to make the compromises that democracy requires.
As our generals have said, the war cannot be won militarily. It must be won politically. No American soldier should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians refuse to resolve their ethnic and political differences.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Iraq Political Progress |
As our generals have said, the war cannot be won militarily. It must be won politically. No American soldier should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians refuse to resolve their ethnic and political differences.
Our call to action is clear. Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines--a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, and a deadline to hold three elections. It was the most intense 11th hour pressure that just pushed aside Prime Minister Jaafari and brought forward a more acceptable candidate. And it will demand deadline toughness to reign in Shiite militias Sunnis say are committing horrific acts of torture every day in Baghdad.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Sunnis and Shiites |
It was the most intense 11th hour pressure that just pushed aside Prime Minister Jaafari and brought forward a more acceptable candidate. And it will demand deadline toughness to reign in Shiite militias Sunnis say are committing horrific acts of torture every day in Baghdad.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Continued US Military Presence in Iraq |
Having gone to war, we cannot afford to fail at peace. The United States must take immediate measures to prevent Iraq from becoming a failed state that inevitably would become a haven for terrorists and a destabilizing force in the Middle East.
Source: Candidate Website (10/02/2004) |
| Deadline for US Pullout |
So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.
Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15 to deal with these intransigent issues and at last put together an effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military. If Iraqis aren't willing to build a unity government in the five months since the election, they're probably not willing to build one at all. The civil war will only get worse, and we will have no choice anyway but to leave.
If Iraq's leaders succeed in putting together a government, then we must agree on another deadline: a schedule for withdrawing American combat forces by year's end. Doing so will actually empower the new Iraqi leadership, put Iraqis in the position of running their own country and undermine support for the insurgency, which is fueled in large measure by the majority of Iraqis who want us to leave their country.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Iraq's Role in War on Terror |
No. President Bush claims that Iraq is the centerpiece of the war on terror. In fact, Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy: Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network.
Source: Candidate Website (10/02/2004) |
| Loss of American Lives in Iraq |
We must insist now that patriotism does not belong to those who defend a President's position--it belongs to those who defend their country. Patriotism is not love of power; it is love of country. And sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power. This is one of those times.
Lives are on the line. Lives have been lost to bad decisions - not decisions that could have gone either way, but decisions that constitute basic negligence and incompetence. And lives continue to be lost because of stubbornness and pride.
We support the troops--the brave men and women who have always protected us and do so today--in part by honoring their service, and in part by making sure they have everything they need both in battle and after they have borne the burden of battle.
But I believe now as strongly and proudly as I did thirty-five years ago that the most important way to support the troops is to tell the truth, and to ensure we do not ask young Americans to die in a cause that falls short of the ideals of this country.
When we protested the war in Vietnam some would weigh in against us saying: "My country right or wrong." Our response was simple: "Yes, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right and when wrong, make it right." And that's what we must do again today.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Staying in Iraq for "as long as it takes to do the job" |
Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion. We want democracy in Iraq, but Iraqis must want it as much as we do. Our valiant soldiers can't bring democracy to Iraq if Iraq's leaders are unwilling themselves to make the compromises that democracy requires.
As our generals have said, the war cannot be won militarily. It must be won politically. No American soldier should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians refuse to resolve their ethnic and political differences.
Our call to action is clear. Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines--a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, and a deadline to hold three elections. It was the most intense 11th hour pressure that just pushed aside Prime Minister Jaafari and brought forward a more acceptable candidate. And it will demand deadline toughness to reign in Shiite militias Sunnis say are committing horrific acts of torture every day in Baghdad.
So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Iraq Role in Making Americans Safer |
No. The war in Iraq has weakened, not strengthened, our ability to defend ourselves against terrorism.
Source: Candidate Website (10/02/2004) |
| These are available issue topics for which there were no responses. |
| Afghanistan, a General Statement |
| Pakistan, a General Statement |
| Timetable for Withdrawal |
| President Hamid Karzai |
| Predator Drone Strikes |
| Taliban & Radical Islamic Jihadists |
| Iraq War |
| Iraq Reconstruction |
| Private Security like Blackwater |
| Cutting Off War Funding |
| Federalizing Iraq into Kurd, Shiite and Sunni States |
| Humanitarian Situation in Iraq |
| Length of Deployments |
| Troop Surge |