NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2004_0924.html

I especially like this bit

Third, as president, I will wage a war on terrorist finances every bit as total as the war we wage on the terrorists themselves. We will trace terrorist funds to their sources and freeze the assets of anyone -- any person, bank, business or foreign official -- who is financing terrorism. I know how to do this. As Senator, I exposed and helped dismantle an international bank that was one of the early financiers of terrorism. We did it by following the money. We can and must do the same to choke off the dollars that are funding al Qaeda and its allies. On this, I will grant no one a "free pass.”


As president, I will do what President Bush has not: I will hold the Saudis accountable. Since 9/11, there have been no public prosecutions in Saudi Arabia, and few elsewhere, of terrorist financers. I will work with our allies, with the World Bank and international financial institutions to shut down the financial pipeline that keeps terrorism alive. And I will pursue a plan to make this nation energy independent of Mid East oil. I want an America that relies on our own innovation and ingenuity, not the Saudi Royal Family.

We owe the American people a real debate about the choices President Bush has made… and the choices I will make… to fight and win the war against terrorism.

President Bush was right to invade Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban. I supported that decision. So did our country and our allies. So did the world.

But since then, again and again, the President has made the wrong choices in the war on terror… around the world and here at home.

Instead of using U.S. forces to capture Osama bin Laden… the President outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, who let bin Laden slip away. That was the wrong choice.

Instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan… the President rushed to a new war in Iraq. That was the wrong choice.

Gotta say that Kerry is doing good in that speech.
We did give most power to Afghan warlords...I thought it was Afgan but then again I could never spell apprevations lol.

I wanted us to finish Afganistan too. Why didn't we?

Instead of listening to the uniformed military, his own State Department, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, and outside experts about how to win the peace in Iraq… the President hitched his wagon to the ideologues who told him our troops would be welcomed as liberators. That was the wrong choice.

Instead of responding to the greatest intelligence failure in our history with a rapid overhaul of our intelligence system … the President dragged his feet and actually resisted reform. After opposing the 9/11 Commission, after trying to block its extension, after finally agreeing to testify, but only with Vice President Cheney at his side, he still refuses to fully implement the Commission’s recommendations. Those were the wrong choices.

Instead of proposing a Department of Homeland Security … the President actually opposed it – and then exploited it for political purposes. That was the wrong choice.

Instead of expanding programs to keep weapons of mass destruction in Russia out of terrorist hands… the President first tried to cut the programs… and even after 9/11 did too little to strengthen them. That was the wrong choice.


Yeah, we weren't welcomed as liberators like they said. Yeah what was with him only speaking with Cheney by him?
I still think our letting them loot and pillage was a bad choice but those are all bad choices.

I'd post more and say more but I gotta go to school, later