Report prepared by Ryan Veiga | The SOURCE takes a stand: Foreign Policy
John Kerry claims that he has “a better plan” to win the War on Terror. Insofar as he seems to have many opinions on the War on Terror, for the purposes of this article we’ll assume that the plan listed on JohnKerry.com, where Kerry has been so eagerly directing debate watchers, is Kerry’s “official” plan.
A close inspection of Kerry’s website reveals the irony of calling his plan “better.” Actually, Kerry’s “plan” is almost word for word what America is already doing. Kerry hasn’t been able to improve at all on Bush’s determined, principled leadership, and this hasn’t escaped the notice of the President, who now tells cheering crowds that Kerry’s plan is “already known as the Bush plan.”
Perhaps realizing that a campaign of “I agree” would fail to motivate potential voters, Kerry has instead adopted an “anything you can do I can do better” approach to try and convince the American people that he would be able to handle the war better than the current president. To this end, Kerry has staked his campaign on his ability to persuade voters that Iraq is a disaster and Afghanistan is tenuous at best.
This is not the case. The accomplishments taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan are tributes to America’s troops, allies, and current administration. From Kabul to Baghdad, people are fighting for freedom, rebuilding their national infrastructure, protecting their security, revitalizing their economy, and enjoying amazing success as they set the foundation for a democratic Middle East.
In Afghanistan, people across the country affirmed their love of freedom by successfully holding their first ever national elections. Despite fears of terrorism, millions of Afghanis, nearly half of them women, bravely cast their vote. They showed the world that democracy is the dream of people everywhere and that the desire for liberty is strongest where people have known oppression, hardship, and tyranny.
In Iraq, reconstruction efforts are making impressive progress. Women and children are going to school for the first time. International and US aid is employing Iraqis to rebuild their own country. Hospitals, power plants, and public buildings are under construction. The Iraqis are fighting side by side as our allies, both as police and as soldiers.
Understandably, people in Iraq and Afghanistan want the world to know what they have accomplished. Kerry, however, has consistently insulted or ignored the sacrifices of American troops and allies. He said the coalition was only “window dressing,” and claimed the allies were “coerced” and “bribed.” The Senator won’t even consider that Iraq is now an ally (an omission that allows him to inflate the percentage of casualties sustained by the US). Soldiers and foreign leaders alike have expressed anger and disappointment over his dismissive attitude. Yet, the Senator boasts that he will “issue in a new era of alliances.” One is left to wonder: will he even be able to keep the support of the allies we’ve got?
John Kerry is the wrong person to fight the War on Terror. The Senator’s “plan” is in fact nothing more than an over-sold combination of the obvious, the plagiarized, and the ineffective. There is only one leader who can effectively fight terror, who has the respect of international allies, and who lives by the principles that will lead the world to a safer and more democratic future. That leader is President George W. Bush.
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