John Kerry's War on Terror - Please Advise

It is a Republican talking point wrt Kerry. Thus, he will hear it over and over and over and over and ... A lie repeated enough times becomes an undisputable fact.

 

From John Kerry's "Plan for America." [paraphrased for brevity by me]

A new national security policy guided by four new imperatives:

1. America must launch and lead a new era of alliances for
the post-9/11 world.
2. We must modernize the world’s most powerful military to meet the new threats.
3. In addition to our military might, we must deploy all that is in America’s arsenal—our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, and the appeal of our values and ideas.
4. To secure our full independence and freedom, we must free America
from its dangerous dependence on Mideast oil.

DEFEATING TERRORISM
Today, America is waging a war against a global terrorist movement committed to our destruction. The war against terror is not just a manhunt—we cannot rest until Osama bin Laden is captured or killed, but that day will only mark a victory in the war on terror, not its end. Terrorists like al Qaeda and its affiliates are unlike any adversary our nation has known. We
face a global jihadist movement of many groups, from different sources, with separate agendas, but all committed to assaulting the United States and free and open societies around the globe.

Despite his tough talk, President Bush’s actions against terrorism have fallen far short. He still has no comprehensive strategy for victory. After allowing bin Laden to escape from our grasp at Tora Bora, he diverted crucial resources from the effort to destroy al Qaeda in Afghanistan to fight the war in Iraq. And his doctrine of unilateral preemption has driven away our allies and cost us the support of other nations.

We must put in place a strategy to win—an approach that recognizes the complexity of the challenge and uses all the tools at our disposal. We need to
recognize that the path to victory in the war on terror will be found in the company of others, not walking alone. We will never, ever wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake—but we will not alienate those whose support we should have, and must enlist, for ultimate victory.

Victory in the war on terror requires a combination of American determination and international cooperation, and:

* The ability and willingness to direct immediate, effective military action to capture or destroy terrorist groups and their leaders,

* A massive strengthening in intelligence gathering, analysis, and coordination coupled with vigorous law enforcement,

* A relentless effort to shut down the flow of terrorist funds,

* A global effort to prevent weak and failed states that can become sanctuaries for terrorists,

We will also enhance the capabilities of our own intelligence services. From the failure to uncover the September 11th plot to the deeply flawed reports about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, we have experienced significant intelligence failures in recent years. It is time for serious reform. This will require the kind of leadership that the president has not provided. We will strengthen our intelligence capabilities so that we can more effectively prevent another terrorist attack by:

* Restoring the credibility of our intelligence community by ensuring the basic integrity of the intelligence process. We will make certain that our intelligence agencies are protected from political pressures and operate in a culture of diversity of thought, dissent, and forceful challenging of assumptions,

* Strengthening accountability and leadership by creating a true Director of National Intelligence, a cabinet-level position with the authority to manage and direct all of the components of the intelligence community, including
personnel and budgets,

* Maximizing coordination and integration by structuring the intelligence community around key threats like terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and hostile countries, so that all available resources are brought to bear on addressing the most pressing threats,

* Transforming our intelligence services to ensure that they have sufficient personnel with the skills, languages, training, and orientation needed to meet today’s threats. We will make sure that the FBI is fully prepared to perform necessary counter-terrorism intelligence operations and strengthen our capabilities overseas, particularly our clandestine services, so that we have our own robust human intelligence network.

Cutting off terrorist funds.
Terrorists need money to operate—without it, they cannot procure weapons, pay for travel, and move freely. Our plan includes decisive steps to cut off the flow of terrorist funds. We will:

* Impose tough financial sanctions against nations or banks that engage in money laundering or fail to act against it,

* Strengthen our money laundering laws to prevent terrorists from using unregulated institutions to finance terror,

* Launch a “name and shame” campaign against those that are financing terror, and shut out of the U.S. financial system those nations that fail to respond,

* End the Bush administration’s kid-glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money in Saudi Arabia and demand that Riyadh shut down Saudibased “charities” that help finance al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.

* A sustained effort to deny terrorists any more recruits by working for peace, promoting democracy, economic growth and development, and improved education, and by conducting effective public diplomacy.

Preventing Afghanistan and other nations from becoming terrorist havens.
The Bush administration has badly mishandled the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan. Our drive to topple the Taliban regime convincingly demonstrated the courage and skill of our troops, the value of powerful new technologies, and the particular importance of Special Forces units in defeating unconventional enemies in the most difficult terrain imaginable.
Unfortunately, we have not followed that military victory with a plan or the commitment to win the peace.
Two years ago, President Bush promised a Marshall Plan to rebuild that country. Instead, he has all but turned away from Afghanistan, allowing it to become a forgotten front in the war on terror and once again a potential
breeding ground for terrorists. We will move immediately to reverse the Bush administration’s dangerous neglect of Afghanistan. And we will take swift measures to help the Karzai government secure the country. We will:

* Work to further expand NATO forces outside Kabul and make good on its pledge to send additional troops to provide security for national elections,
* Identify and destroy any al Qaeda training sites,
* Accelerate training for the Afghan army and police,
* Accelerate and expand the program to disarm warlord militias and reintegrate them into mainstream society,
* Address the burgeoning opium trade by doubling our counter-narcotics assistance to the Karzai government.

Improving public diplomacy.
America needs a major initiative in public diplomacy to support the many voices of freedom in the Arab and Muslim world. To improve education for the next generation of Muslim youth, we need a cooperative international
effort to compete with radical madrassas. Democracy will not take root overnight, but America should speed that day with a strategy that aims at
breaking down the economic and cultural isolation of much of this region, and supports local efforts to promote democracy, trade, tolerance, and respect for human rights.
We will:
* Undertake a major initiative in public diplomacy to advance our interests and support voices of freedom in the Arab and Muslim world,

* Lead an international effort to build schools and social services institutions that can marginalize radical organizations,

* Support human rights groups, independent media, and labor unions working to build democracy and civil society throughout the Arab and Muslim world,

* Reward governments that work toward the spread of freedom and democracy in the region, not those that work against it.

Expanding active duty personnel.

* Expand America’s active duty forces by 40,000,

* Double the Army’s Special Forces capability within four years, while adding a special operations helicopter squadron to the Air Force,

* Increase by 50 percent the number of civil affairs troops trained in the special responsibilities of post-conflict reconstruction,

* Increase our military police, because public order is critical to establishing the conditions that allow peace to take hold,

* Add 500 “psychological operations” personnel and augment their language training.

We offer a military modernization plan that will:
* Create more fully modernized “digital divisions,” equipped with the latest communications technology crucial to future military success,
* Create new “anti-proliferation” units trained and equipped to find and destroy nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and to secure the facilities that produce them,
* Provide full support for 21st century education and training for our troops, including training in how to deal effectively with culturally diverse civilian populations.

We will also focus defense dollars on investing in the
right technologies, including:
* Advanced communications and information technologies, to give our troops a crucial advantage in situational awareness and coordinating operations,

* Sensing and control technologies, including robotic systems that minimize the risk of casualties,

* Precision weapons, including “directed energy” weapons that can incapacitate the enemy, without risking the lives of innocent bystanders, for use in areas with large civilian populations.

The plan also covers:
National Guard usage: We will make homeland security one of their primary missions, and assign Guard units to a standing national task force on homeland security commanded by a National Guard general.

Defend America against attack at all costs.
First, the world should be on notice that we will take every possible measure to defend ourselves against the possibility of attack by unconventional arms. If such an attack appears imminent, we will do everything necessary to stop it. If such a strike does occur, we will respond with overwhelming and devastating force. We will do whatever is necessary to defend our country, and we will never cede our security to anyone.

Also has sections on their plan to :

Secure and reduce existing nuclear weapons and material.
End production of new fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Lead international efforts to shut down nuclear programs in North Korea, Iran, and elsewhere.
Enhance international efforts to stop trafficking in nuclear materials.
Make prevention of nuclear terrorism a top national security priority.

There is more but that is enough for now.