...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Monday, December 15, 2003
      ( 1:27 PM )
 
Got National Security?

Ummm... Someone's not sticking to the script of being weak and dumb about national security policy:

And, as President, I will renew America’s commitment
to the men and women who proudly serve our nation
– and to the critical missions they carry out.

That means ensuring that our troops have the best
leadership, the best training, and the best equipment.

It means keeping promises about pay, living conditions,
family benefits, and care for veterans – so we honor
our commitments and recruit and retain the best people.

It means putting our troops in harm’s way only when
the stakes warrant, when we plan soundly to cope
with possible dangers, and when we level with the
American people about the relevant facts.

It means exercising global leadership effectively to
secure maximum support and cooperation from other
nations, so that our troops do not bear unfair burdens
in defeating the dangers to global peace.

[...]

I also will get America’s defense spending priorities
straight – so our resources are focused more on fighting
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and honoring
commitments to our troops – and less, for example,
on developing unnecessary and counterproductive new
generations of nuclear weapons.

[...]

Now, when America should be at the height of its
influence, we find ourselves, too often, isolated and
resented. America should never be afraid to act
alone when necessary. But we must not choose
unilateral action as our weapon of first resort. Leaders
of the current administration seem to believe that
nothing can be gained from working with nations
that have stood by our side as allies for generations.
They are wrong, and they are leading America in a
radical and dangerous direction. We need to get
back on the right path.

[...]

As President, I will strengthen the National Guard’s role
at the heart of homeland security. Members of the
Guard have always stood ready to be deployed overseas
for limited periods and in times of crisis and national
emergency. But the Iraq war has torn tens of thousands
of Guard members from their families for more than a
year. It also deprived local communities of many of their
best defenders.

The Guard is an integral part of American life, and its
main mission should be here at home, preparing, planning,
and acting to keep our citizens safe.

Closing the homeland security gap is just one element
of what must be a comprehensive approach. We must
take the fight to the terrorist leaders and their
operatives around the world.

[...]

Today, billions of people live on the knife’s edge of
survival, trapped in a struggle against ignorance,
poverty, and disease. Their misery is a breeding ground
for the hatred peddled by bin Laden and other
merchants of death.

As President, I will work to narrow the now-widening
gap between rich and poor. Right now, the United
States officially contributes a smaller percentage of its
wealth to helping other nations develop than any other
industrialized country.

That hurts America, because if we want the world’s help
in confronting the challenges that most concern us, we
need to help others defeat the perils that most concern
them. Targeted and effective expansion of investment,
assistance, trade, and debt relief in developing nations
can improve the climate for peace and democracy and
undermine the recruiters for terrorist plots.

[...]

Our campaign is about strengthening the American
community so we can fulfill the promise of our nation.
We have the power, if we use it wisely, to advance
American security and restore our country to its rightful
place, as the engine of progress; the champion of
liberty and democracy; a beacon of hope and a pillar
of strength.

We have the power, as Thomas Paine said at
America’s birth, “to begin the world anew.”

We have the power to put America back on the right
path, toward a new era of greatness, fulfilling an
American promise stemming not so much from what
we possess, but from what we believe.

That is how America can best lead in the world. That
is where I want to lead America.

Get ready for it: A Democrat uses sanity to take back National Security as a powerful issue against the Bush administration. You can't wait to vote Bush out, can you?


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