Positions and Views of John Kerry
on Military & Defense
| Previous Candidate for U.S. Senate, Massachusetts |
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| Military & Defense |
Positions and Views |
| Military, a General Statement |
I will continue to fight for the men and women of the American military, including getting them the life-saving equipment they need in battle. I spent two weeks in the Middle East, including Iraq, earlier this year. I went because I wanted to thank the troops personally for their service to our great nation.
I support out troops and am working to reduce the lengthy and repeated deployments of our active duty military as well as Guard and Reserve troops by fighting to expand the active duty military by adding tens of thousands of new troops. Not only will this allow our troops to rotate on a more regular basis, it will also ensure we have enough troops to meet challenges that may arise at home, or elsewhere around the world.
I believe military families are one of our country's greatest military resources. I have written the Military Family Bill of Rights and believe we should ensure that today's men and women in uniform receive adequate pay and full health care coverage, including access to TRICARE.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Military Policy |
America has always embraced the best traditions of civilized conduct toward combatants and non-combatants in war. But today our leaders hold themselves above the law--in the way they not only treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib, but assert unchecked power to spy on American citizens.
America has always rejected war as an instrument of raw power or naked self-interest. We fought when we had to in order to repel grave threats or advance freedom and self-determination in concert with like-minded people everywhere. But our current leadership, for all its rhetoric of freedom and democracy, behaves as though might does make right, enabling us to discard the alliances and institutions that served us so well in the past as nothing more now than impediments to the exercise of unilateral power.
America has always been stronger when we have not only proclaimed free speech, but listened to it. Yes, in every war, there have been those who demand suppression and silencing. And although no one is being jailed today for speaking out against the war in Iraq, the spirit of intolerance for dissent has risen steadily, and the habit of labeling dissenters as unpatriotic has become the common currency of the politicians currently running our country.
The former top operating officer at the Pentagon, a Marine Lieutenant General, said "the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions--or bury the results." It is hard for a career military officer to speak those words. But at a time when the administration cannot let go of the myths and outright lies it broadcast in the rush to war in Iraq, those who know better must speak out.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Military Adequacy |
I support out troops and am working to reduce the lengthy and repeated deployments of our active duty military as well as Guard and Reserve troops by fighting to expand the active duty military by adding tens of thousands of new troops. Not only will this allow our troops to rotate on a more regular basis, it will also ensure we have enough troops to meet challenges that may arise at home, or elsewhere around the world.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Reservists and National Guard |
I support out troops and am working to reduce the lengthy and repeated deployments of our active duty military as well as Guard and Reserve troops by fighting to expand the active duty military by adding tens of thousands of new troops.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Military Families |
I support fully equipping and fairly compensating our troops on active duty, and protecting their loved ones with a Military Family Bill of Rights.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| Military Pay, Medical Care and Benefits |
I support out troops and am working to reduce the lengthy and repeated deployments of our active duty military as well as Guard and Reserve troops by fighting to expand the active duty military by adding tens of thousands of new troops. Not only will this allow our troops to rotate on a more regular basis, it will also ensure we have enough troops to meet challenges that may arise at home, or elsewhere around the world.
I believe military families are one of our country's greatest military resources. I have written the Military Family Bill of Rights and believe we should ensure that today's men and women in uniform receive adequate pay and full health care coverage, including access to TRICARE.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| National Guard / Reserve Pay, Medical Care and Benefits |
Twenty percent of reservists and their families lack adequate health care coverage and thousands of disabled veterans are being unfairly taxed on their disabilities. Over the last three years, attempts to increase funding for reservists' health care have been blocked.
Source: kerry.senate.gov (04/27/2008) |
| These are available issue topics for which there were no responses. |
| Missile Defense System |
| Defense and Military Budget |
| Department of Defense and Pentagon |
| Military Industrial Establishment |
| Cluster Bombs |
| Reducing Military Costs |
| Re-instituting the Draft |
| Military Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC Commission) |
| Gays in the Military |
| Defense, a General Statement |
| Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty |
| Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) |