Dear xxxxxxx,

On Saturday, September 9, I hope you'll join me at Faneuil Hall to discuss the biggest issue in front of our country -- real security for all Americans.

It is clearer by the day that the Republicans who run Washington have failed to make America safe, and that in fact, their disastrous Iraq policy has set us backwards in the war on terror. We were misled into a war that has become a dangerous distraction and a profound drain on our financial and military resources.

Nearly five years after the attacks of 9/11, it's clear that this administration hasn't learned the real lessons of 9/11 and has failed to take the steps to make us as safe as we must be. Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. The 9/11 Commission's recommendations to secure our most vulnerable infrastructure remain virtually ignored. Homeland security funding has been cut for cities such as Boston and New York.

But to make America safe, we Democrats can not be afraid to stand for something -- and to do so with pride and passion.

We know how to make our country safe and lead in a way that honors freedom rather than spreading fear.

Please join me on Saturday, September 9 at Faneuil Hall, where I will share a few ideas about how we can work to provide real security for all Americans. Please arrive by 10:30 a.m. Tickets are free, and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Join me: RSVP to attend on Saturday, September 9.

For over 250 years, Faneuil Hall has served as more than just a meeting hall. Faneuil Hall is the cradle of American democracy -- an incubator of big ideas -- where leaders take responsibility rather than abdicate it and where change is advocated, not avoided. And this is a time when we need change for our nation.

Please join me on Saturday, September 9 to address this important topic together. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

On Saturday, September 9, I hope you'll join me at Faneuil Hall to discuss the biggest issue in front of our country -- real security for all Americans.

We know how to make our country safe and lead in a way that honors freedom rather than spreading fear.

Rox, what a coincidence...Got the same email. Who was yours from? I would think you saw me at the energy speech. Were you there?

I heard you were mia for a short bit a while back. You are ok?

I just found out that this speech will be taped by C-Span, and will be broadcast on their "Road to the White House" series on Sunday evening. If you go to the page at the link below, and go to the lower right-hand corner of the page, you'll see the listing. This site is associated with C-Span.

http://www.campaignnetwork.org/

The war on terror that was brought home to the Casey family on a sunny autumn morning that suddenly turned into midnight five years ago, also brought home for all of humanity the stark reality that we are in a fateful contest between forces of evil and hate and the defenders of progress and hope. 

The outcome will determine whether our children live in freedom or fear.  This is a clash between humanity’s best ideals and the darkness of superstition and oppression.  And this is not a clash of faiths: the true Islam is a faith to live by, not a call to terrorize and kill.

In this war, the war against terrorism, there is no substitute for victory.  I don’t know a single American who needs a politician to remind them that we have to win this fight. 

On Monday, we will commemorate our largest loss of civilian life on a single day in American history.  As we remember the horror, the unforgettable shock, and the pride in those who rushed to the rescue, it is our duty to take account as a nation of where we have come since that terrible moment and where we must go if we are to keep America safe in these perilous times. 

Since the beginning, at critical moments in our nation’s history, Americans have gathered here at Faneuil Hall to find a better way forward.  This is where Americans first agreed on our nation’s promise and where they have gathered ever since to help our country keep it.

That is why you and I have convened here four times so far this year – to chart a new course, for a nation that has been misled on global climate change, misled on health care, misled on fundamental constitutional values, and misled into a war that was based on a lie, a war that can and must be brought to a close.

Donald Rumsfeld – the man who should have been fired as Secretary of Defense long ago – Donald Rumsfeld recently gave a low and ugly speech in which he smeared those who dissent from a catastrophic policy, and then spoke of “moral confusion.”

Well, there certainly is a lot of moral confusion around these days.

It is immoral for old men to send young Americans to fight and die in a conflict without a strategy that can work – on a mission that has not weakened terrorism but worsened it.

It is immoral to lie about progress in that war to get through a news cycle or an election.

It is immoral to treat 9/11 as a political pawn – and to continue to excuse the invasion of Iraq by exploiting the 3,000 mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who were lost that day. They were attacked and killed not by Saddam Hussein but by Osama bin Laden.

And it is deeply immoral to compare a majority of Americans who oppose a failing policy and seek a winning one to appeasers of Fascism and Naziism.

The leaders of this administration have shown in recent days that they will say anything, do anything, twist any truth, and endanger our nation’s character as one America in a desperate ploy to survive a mid term election.

But Americans now see through this charade.  They know the truth. We have a Katrina foreign policy – a succession of blunders and failures that have betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it.

Every time the administration is down in the polls, every time their political opponents at home appear to gain, they trot out of the fear card, instead of reinforcing in Americans “there is nothing to fear but fear itself,” they have nothing to offer but fear itself. 

The President wants Americans to believe only one party wants to fight terror.  That’s a cynical game to try to win an election.  I believe we need a game plan to capture and kill Osama Bin Laden, not capture a few Congressional seats.

I believe we need national leadership capable of raising hopes and inspiring trust, not raising fears and demanding blind faith. We need to marshal all our resources – military, diplomatic, economic, and moral – and first and foremost always tell the truth to the American people.

That is why on the eve of this midterm election, we Democrats have a unique responsibility to carry our cause into every corner of the nation—not just to oppose what has failed but to propose a new direction that can restore a bipartisan foreign policy and that can defeat jihadist terrorism once and for all. 
In order to change course, we must level with the American people about the magnitude of the challenge:  we must face reality so we can change it.

This starts by leveling with the American people about Iraq’s true position in the overall fight against jihadism.  The President pretends Iraq is the central front on the war on terror. It is not now, and never has been. The truth is, his disastrous decisions have made Iraq a fuel depot for terror – fanning the flames of conflict around the world. 

There is simply no way to overstate how Iraq has subverted our efforts to free the world from global terror. It has overstretched our military. It has served as an essential recruitment tool for terrorists. It has divided and pushed away our traditional allies. It has diverted critical billions of dollars from the real front lines against terrorism and from homeland security. It has unleashed dangerous, pent-up forces of radical religious extremism. It has weakened moderate leaders in the Middle East. It has strengthened and played into Iran’s hand. It has diminished our moral authority in the world.

The demagogic drumbeat about fighting terrorists over there instead of here -- even though they weren’t in Iraq until we went in, and it’s now a civil war we’re fighting -- has compromised America’s real interests and made us less safe than we ought to be five years after 9/11. The true measure of that is the stark fact that worldwide terrorist attacks are at an all-time high and there are now more terrorists in the world who want to kill Americans than there were at the time of 9/11. 

After all the tough talk of “Wanted Dead or Alive,” after the Administration bragged and boasted – they meekly backed off in the mountains of Tora Bora.  Osama bin Laden escaped because the administration held back the best military in the world – our’s – and outsourced the job to local militias. Since then Al Qaeda has spawned a vast and decentralized network operating in 65 countries. Only Dick Cheney could call this a success.

The situation in Afghanistan deteriorates steadily, squandering the sacrifices of our troops and allies in the military campaign of 2002.  The Taliban now controls entire portions of southern Afghanistan, and just across the border Pakistan is just one coup away from becoming a radical jihadist state with a full compliment of nuclear weapons.  Only Don Rumsfeld could proclaim this a victory.

The Middle East is more unstable than it has been in decades.  Our stalwart ally Israel is surrounded by emboldened enemies who talk of wiping it off the face of the earth.  Hezbollah flags fly from rooftops in Shiia slums of Sadr City and Iran is rebuilding Southern Lebanon. Only an Administration trapped in its own falsehoods could say we are making progress in creating a new Middle East.

North Korea has quadrupled its nuclear weapons capability, and is defiantly testing missiles that could reach our shores.  Iran is moving steadily towards membership in the nuclear club; has expanded its terrorist clientele from Hezbollah to Hamas; maintains thousands of agents in Iraq; and is governed by a fanatic who almost daily calls for Israel’s destruction.  Only George W Bush could declare this ‘mission accomplished.’

The Bush-Cheney policies have limited our power to act decisively and the regime in Tehran knows it. We have over 130,000 American troops in Iraq in the middle of a seething Shiite population that would explode if we moved against Iran. Our troops and our foreign policy are held hostage by the neocon catastrophe in Iraq. Only this White House could name this a plan for victory.

And be forewarned : don’t be surprised if they hype the Iranian nuclear crisis come October if all other appeals to fear are failing as the mid-term election approaches.

We have an Iraqi Prime Minister sustained in power by our forces, who will not speak against the Hezbollah terrorists, who will not say that Israel has a right to exist, and who will not condemn the Iranian nuclear program.  No American soldier should be asked to stand up for an Iraqi government that won’t stand up for freedom and against fear.

Here at home, too many things have not changed in the last five years.  We learned on 9/11 painful lessons about the costs of a dysfunctional intelligence system marred by bureaucratic infighting, inadequate resources, and faulty analysis.  Yet the 9/11 commission recently gave our own government a failing grade on implementing intelligence reforms. Today, our ability to intercept terrorist communications remains in a legal and constitutional limbo.

The Dubai port deal reminded us only a small percentage of cargoes entering U.S. ports are even inspected.  Surely if we can inspect cargoes at the Baghdad airport, we can inspect cargoes at the airports in Los Angeles, New York, and right here in Boston. 

This is the reality of the world today – a world more dangerous because of the Bush blunders and a challenge far more complicated than the gruff Cheney sound bites.  America deserves – our safety depends—on a winning strategy to reverse this dangerous course and make our country more secure.

There are five principal priorities that demand immediate action: (1) redeploy from Iraq, (2) re-commit to Afghanistan, (3) reduce our dependence on foreign oil, (4) reinforce our homeland defense, and (5) restore America’s moral leadership in the world.  These “5 R’s”—if you want to call them that-- are  bold steps Democrats will take to strengthen our national security, and that the Republicans who have set the agenda today resist to our national peril.

We must refocus our military efforts from the failed occupation of Iraq to what we should have been doing all along: tracking down and killing members of al Qaeda and their clones wherever they are.  We must redeploy troops from Iraq – maintain enough residual force to complete the training and deter foreign intervention, so we can free up resources to fight the global war on terror. 

Republicans want to wrap this strategy in slogans because they’re afraid to debate what it really is: a redeploy-to-succeed strategy – to succeed in defeating world wide terror, and to succeed in making Iraqis themselves responsible for Iraq.

This is the opposite of the administration’s stand-still-and-lose strategy - -a clear alternative from a broken policy of “more of the same.” Every time President Bush tells the Iraqis we will “stay as long as it takes,” he is giving squabbling politicians there an excuse to take as long as they want. All of us want democracy in Iraq but Iraqis must want it for themselves as much as we want it for them. It’s long overdue for the president to realize that no American soldier should be sacrificed because Iraqi factions refuse to resolve their ethnic rivalries and their competing grasp for oil revenues.

At each step along the way, the Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines-a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, a deadline to write a Constitution, a deadline to hold three elections. So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet-- a clear deadline of July, 2007 to redeploy our combat troops. Make Iraqis stand up for Iraq – and bring our heroes home.

We also desperately need something else this administration disdains: diplomacy. Real diplomacy -- a Dayton-like summit of Iraq and the countries bordering it, the Arab League, NATO, and the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council. Our own generals have said Iraq can not be solved militarily. Only through negotiation and diplomacy can you stem the growing civil war, and only by setting a deadline to get out can we force Iraq and its neighbors to take diplomacy seriously.

“Staying the course” isn’t far-sighted; it’s blind.  Leaving our troops in the middle of a civil war isn’t resolute; it’s reckless. Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion. 

Neither can the Administration pretend that the war in Afghanistan is over or that the peace has been secured. On Thursday the president said we’re on the offensive against terrorists in Afghanistan, even as the American NATO commander on the ground showed the opposite is true by making an urgent plea for more troops. 

The truth is-- the Bush-Cheney Administration has engaged in a policy of cut and run in that country.  This Administration has cut and run while the Taliban-led insurgency is running amok across entire regions of the country.  The Administration has cut and run while Osama bin Laden and his henchmen hide and plot in a lawless no-man’s land. They cut and run even as we learn from Pakistani intelligence that the mastermind of the most recent attempt to blow up American airliners was an al Qaeda leader operating from Afghanistan – yes, from Afghanistan.  That’s right – the same killers who attacked us on 9/11 are still plotting attacks against America and they’re still holed up in Afghanistan.

To avoid repeating the terrible mistakes of the past, we need to send significant reinforcements to Afghanistan: Start with at least five thousand additional American troops –more elite Special Forces troops, the best counter-insurgency units in the world; more civil affairs forces; and more experienced intelligence units. More predator drones to find the enemy, more helicopters to allow rapid deployments to confront them, and more heavy combat equipment to make sure we can crush the terrorists. And more reconstruction money so that the elected government in Kabul, helped by the United States, not the Taliban, helped by al Qaeda, rebuilds the new Afghanistan.

That’s how you win the hearts and minds of the local population, that’s how you win a war on terror, that’s how you show the world the true face of America.
America needs a national policy that understands we are threatened not just by gun barrels, but by oil barrels. The great treasury of jihadist terrorism is mideast oil. We fund both sides in the war on terror every time we fill up our gas tanks. We know how dependent we are on oil, but it’s not just us. We must liberate the Middle East itself from the tyranny of dependence on petroleum so that the region no longer feeds restive and rising populations of unemployed young people a diet of illusions and rationalizations paid for by our oil money.

Nothing will change if autocratic regimes keep pumping prosperity out of the ground to pay off a new generation with petrodollar welfare checks. We cannot change this if our oil money is sustaining the status quo. We must end the Empire of Oil.

We can’t allow Energy independence to be used as a mere slogan, it has to be a solution.  We need a revolutionary set of new policies to promote alternative fuels on a crash basis.  This  is essential if we are to reverse the tide towards catastrophic global climate change; it is essential to making the United States a leader in vast new opportunities to develop and market clean energy technologies—but most importantly, energy independence is essential to defeating jihadist terrorism and liberating our country from our bondage to tyrannical, hostile, and unstable regimes. 

In June -- here at Faneuil Hall -- I unveiled a comprehensive strategy to break our oil addiction. It begins with an aggressive goal: reduce U.S. oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels of oil a day by 2015.

I envision an aggressive timeline to immediately expand the availability and production of renewable fuels and a new fleet of energy-efficient cars, trucks and SUVs. This strategy invests heavily in renewable energy and efficiency. By clearing the pathways to innovation, investing in our workers and infrastructure, and providing American consumers with broader choices, my energy plan will provide the tools to help move America forward, toward real energy security for the 21st Century. 

And to really make America safe, it is imperative that we reinforce our homeland defense– starting by doing what should have begun two years ago, and fully implementing the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.  President Bush this week said that Osama bin Laden and the terrorists plan to target America’s ‘weak points.’ Our weak points—our borders, our chemical plants, our railways-- are weak because this administration has the wrong priorities. The President’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are not only unfair and unaffordable: they are taking from homeland security.  What we have today from this White House is a pretense of national security on the cheap -- and it must end.

We must rearm ourselves at home.  Hurricane Katrina showed us in the most tragic way that the Department of Homeland Security is woefully unprepared to handle a natural disaster we know is coming a week in advance, let alone a catastrophic terrorist attack that takes America by surprise. In 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded that the Bush Administration should distribute homeland security funding to cities and states based on risk.  Yet the Commission’s most recent report card gives the government an “F” because this Administration has cut homeland security funding for the states that need it most – which happen to be blue states -- while distributing funds disproportionately to the red states that need it least. What should count here is the terrorist target list, not the Republican National Committees’ political target list.

To make America safe we must ensure the rapid development and deployment of reliable technologies to detect the secret transport of deadly materials. For $1.5 billion dollars – less than is spent in a week in Iraq – we could purchase the equipment to scan every cargo container bound for U.S. ports to ensure that it does not contain any weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, we must secure the most dangerous of all weapons at their source—especially in the former Soviet Union—where far too much nuclear material remains dangerously unprotected.  We must enhance FBI counterterrorism capabilities at home– an effort that is moving far too slowly because of a lack of urgency from this Administration.

And we must put an end to Washington’s continued inaction to secure our border.  Border security backed by immigration reform is actually one area where sensible Democrats and Republicans have come together to forge a compromise. Unfortunately, this proposal has been held hostage to narrow right-wing political interests while our security hangs in the balance.

We must—and let me tell you no matter what the White House wants, the Congress will—reconstitute the Bin Laden unit at the CIA, which the Administration inexplicably disbanded.  Maybe they thought that if they weren’t looking for Bin Laden, no one would notice that they weren’t finding him.

So these are four specific steps that will start us on the right path – but they alone will not win the war on terror.

Most important, we need to make America be America again. We must restore our moral authority and global leadership by deploying the full arsenal of our national power with smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances, more effective international institutions -- and fidelity to the values we have always stood for as a nation.

We must remember the great lesson of the Cold War when we led the world to confront a common threat. Genuine global leadership is a strategic imperative for America, not a favor we do for other countries. Leading the world's most advanced democracies isn't mushy multilateralism -- it amplifies America's voice, it extends our reach. Working through global institutions doesn't tie our hands – it gives greater strength and legitimacy to our purposes and dampens the fear and resentment that our overwhelming power sometimes triggers in others.

We need to strengthen international institutions, build alliances that amplify our power and extend the reach of our influence, and remember that even the most powerful nation on the face of the earth needs to make some friends on this planet. 

Leadership means talking with countries who aren’t our friends. It means engaging directly when our vital national security interests are at stake – even with countries that we strongly disagree with—because treating dialogue as a means rather than an end can help us achieve our goals.  As John Kennedy once said, “we must never negotiate out of fear but we must never fear to negotiate.” If Richard Nixon could send Henry Kissinger to China, surely George Bush can send a real negotiating team to North Korea. If Ronald Reagan could talk to the evil empire, surely we can talk with Iran or Syria.

We must start treating our moral authority as a precious national asset that does not limit our power but magnifies our influence.  Only this week did the Administration finally recognize that the protections of the Geneva Convention had to be applied to prisoners in order to comply with the law, restore our moral authority, and best protect American troops. Let me say it plainly: No American president should be for torture before he’s against it.

Anyone who understood the conflict we face could never shrug off the imperative of winning the hearts and minds of Muslim moderates.

We must start leading by example. We should never engage in or excuse violations of basic human rights. We must uphold the rule of law in our own conduct. And we should never accept official lying by our leaders.  No White House should ever bully the Director of the CIA to make a case he knows isn’t true – and no White House should reward it with the Medal of Freedom.

To restore our credibility with moderates in the Muslim world and to safeguard Israel’s place in the world, we must renew the search for a lasting peace in the Middle East.  We know from the hard lessons of the past that it won’t be easy.  But we know from the disasters of the present that it is essential. 

I’ve outlined five specific steps to make our nation safer which I believe stand in stark contrast to the Republicans’ failed policies.

So let’s have a real debate. Let’s give all of us—Republicans and Democrats alike—a real “accountability moment” this November. 

Let’s stand up for what we believe.  It is the only way to win.  And it is the only way we will be worthy of winning. 

Let the President give his speeches attacking the patriotism of his fellow Americans.  Let him play the politics of fear.  As Democrats, we choose to  offer a real plan to attack the terrorists and free Americans from fear. 

And then let the people decide. 

John Kerry: Five Priorities for Keeping America Secure

Five years after 9/11, we are still nowhere near as safe as we need to be. America deserves a winning strategy to reverse this dangerous course and make our country safer. There are many things we can and must do better, but there are five principal priorities that John Kerry believes we must address – and we can’t do it soon enough: (1) redeploy from Iraq, (2) re-commit to Afghanistan, (3) reduce our dependence on foreign oil, (4) reform our homeland defense, and (5) restore America’s moral authority and leadership in the world. 

1. REDEPLOY FROM IRAQ

We all want democracy to succeed in Iraq, but Iraqis must want it as much as we do. Our soldiers have done an incredible job of giving the Iraqis the opportunity to create a democratic future for their country. But one year after Dick Cheney declared that the insurgency was in its last throes, our troops are still being killed and maimed by IED’s they cannot defend against, in the middle of an escalating civil war they are powerless to end.  The bottom line is that our soldiers have done their job. It’s time for the newly-elected Iraqi leaders to do their job. And it’s past the time for America’s political leaders to do theirs.  We must change course now.

•  Deadline for Redeployment.  This starts by acknowledging that it takes a deadline to get Iraq up on its own two feet and get American troops home.  Now that the Iraqis have a permanent government, we must agree with the new leadership on a schedule for leaving, withdrawing American combat forces by July 2007.  The only troops that remain should be those critical to finishing the job of standing up Iraqi security forces, conducting counter-terrorism missions, and protecting U.S. personnel and infrastructure.  This will empower and legitimize the new leadership with the Iraqi people, it will expedite the process of getting Iraqis to assume a larger role in running their country, and it will undermine support for the insurgency among the vast majority of Iraqis who want U.S. troops to leave. 

•  Maintain Over the Horizon Presence.  After the bulk of U.S. forces have been withdrawn, we should keep a rapid reaction force over the horizon in Kuwait to strike against terrorist enclaves. Together with our air-power in the region, this will ensure that we always have the ability to bring overwhelming force to bear on any concentration of enemy forces in Iraq. 

•  Convene a Summit to Reach a Political Solution. This war in Iraq, in the words of our generals, cannot be won militarily.  It must be won politically. A true national compact is still urgently needed to bring about a political solution to the insurgency and end the sectarian violence. To achieve this, we must bring the leaders of the Iraqi factions together at a Dayton-like summit that includes leaders of the countries bordering Iraq, representatives of the Arab League, the Secretary General of NATO, representatives of the European Union, and leaders of the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council.  This will enable the parties to engage in the intensive diplomacy necessary to forge a comprehensive agreement that addresses federalism, oil revenues, the militias, security guarantees, reconstruction, economic assistance, and border security.

2. RE-COMMIT TO AFGHANISTAN

We must re-commit to Afghanistan to stave off an impending disaster. While we have diverted crucial resources to Iraq, a Taliban-led insurgency – funded largely by flourishing opium production – is retaking control over entire towns, even as Osama bin Laden and his henchmen still find sanctuary nearby. As President Hamid Karzai said, "The same enemies that blew up themselves in London, the same enemies that blew up the train in Madrid or the train in Bombay or the twin towers in America are still around."  In fact, a British General in Afghanistan said on Friday that, “The intensity and ferocity of the fighting is far greater than in Iraq on a daily basis.” That’s why President Karzai is literally pleading for help – when asked if additional American troops and assistance are needed, he said: “Yes, much more, and we’ll keep asking for more and we will never stop asking.” And last week – just as the President was claiming to be on the offensive against the terrorists – the American NATO commander in Afghanistan made an urgent plea for more troops to stop the offensive by the Taliban. We must provide the resources that are so urgently needed to turn the tide.

•  More Troops. That means sending at least five thousand additional U.S. troops – including more elite Special Forces troops, the best counter-insurgency units in the world – more civil affairs forces, and more experienced intelligence units.

•  More Equipment.  It means more predator drones to find the enemy, more helicopters and transport aircraft to allow rapid deployments to confront them, and more heavy combat equipment to make sure we can crush them.

•  More Economic Assistance. It means more reconstruction money to help build support among the local population. 

3.  REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL

Energy independence is essential to defeating jihadism and liberating our country from our bondage to tyrannical, hostile, and unstable regimes. We cannot win the war on terror and get serious about global climate change and energy security if we do not take bold steps to break our oil addiction.  Talk is not enough. A safer, more secure energy future is well within our reach. The imperative has never been greater to reshape the future of our energy supply and energy use – that’s why taking these steps are so important.

•  Mandates for Reducing Oil Consumption.  The United States is saddled with rising gasoline prices, escalating uncertainty in energy markets, and increasing oil imports in the foreseeable future. These stubborn facts will not change without an aggressive policy response that promotes both radically increased energy efficiency in our vehicle fleet and a rapid shift to greater use of alternative renewable fuels. We must set mandatory targets for reducing U.S. oil use by 2.5 million barrels of oil a day by 2015. This goal will be achieved not only by revolutionizing the transportation sector, but also through promoting renewable energy and increasing overall energy efficiency in our homes and buildings.

•  Developing Energy Technologies for the Future.  Reducing our dependence on oil and building a future of clean and abundant energy are urgent national priorities. Our political system, however, does not treat them that way. To assure that the nation is on a track to reduce oil dependence, we must create an Energy Security and Conservation Trust Fund capitalized by rolling back tax breaks for big oil. The revenues will be dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of technologies that will reduce America’s dangerous dependence on oil. The Trust Fund will allocate $20 billion over the next decade to reduce oil dependence and create a cleaner and more reliable energy future.

•  Reverse and Stop Emissions that Cause Global Warming.  Science tells us that we face a grave risk of potentially devastating impacts if global temperatures increase by even more than a few degrees. We must slow, stop and reverse greenhouse gas emissions through a flexible, economy-wide cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions.

4.  REFORM OUR HOMELAND DEFENSE

Here at home, too many things have not changed in the last five years.  Hurricane Katrina showed us in the most wrenching way possible that we are woefully unprepared to handle a natural disaster we know is coming a week in advance, let alone a catastrophic terrorist attack that takes our government by surprise. The final 9/11 Commission report card gave C’s, D’s, and F’s to the government because it failed to fully implement common sense measures that would protect us from terrorism.  We need to take these basic steps to make our homeland safer.

•  Allocate Homeland Security Funding Based on Risk.  Ignoring the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress have failed to reform the homeland security grant programs so that funding is distributed solely according to risk.  The final 9/11 Report Card gave the government an “F” for failing to make the common sense changes that will help protect Americans from terrorists. Congress continues to insist on bloated mandatory-minimum funding for every state and the Administration has cut discretionary spending for cities like New York and Washington while states like Wyoming and North Dakota receive the most in per capita spending.  The solution is simple: put national security above pork barrel interests and politics as usual and direct homeland security funding to the cities and states at risk from a terrorist attack.  Anything less is unacceptable.

•  Fully Implement the 9/11 Commission Recommendations.  In addition to distributing funding based on risk, we need to finally develop a passenger pre-screening program to identify terrorists before they board a plane; cut through the bureaucracy and develop a government wide terrorist watch list; improve Congressional oversight of homeland security programs and the intelligence community; and increase non-proliferation efforts to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of Al-Qaeda.   

•  Scan All Cargo Containers Bound for the U.S. within 3 years.  Five years after 9/11, less than 5 percent of the cargo entering U. S. ports is physically inspected.  Only 28 percent of U.S. port terminals are equipped with radiation monitors.  Worse, the technology in place is flawed and must be replaced.  Only 17.5 percent of “high-risk” cargo is physically inspected overseas by U.S. agents.  It’s time to get serious about port security.  The nation’s foremost expert on port security, Dr. Steven Flynn, has advocated scanning 100% of the containers bound for the United States, using innovative technology that x-rays and scans containers leaving world ports for nuclear and other illicit material, without bringing commerce to a halt.  For $1.5 billion–less than the cost of one week in Iraq–the Administration could deploy this technology to the major world ports and reach a 100 percent scanning rate within 3 years.  We need to make that a reality.

•  Enhance Domestic Counter-Terrorism Capabilities.  We must ensure that the FBI is prepared to meet the new terrorist challenge, an effort that is still moving far too slowly. We need real leadership from the highest levels of government to expedite this crucial process.  We also must reconstitute the Bin Laden unit at the CIA, which the Administration inexplicably disbanded. A Democratic amendment to restore funding for this unit passed the Senate unanimously this week – we need to make sure it becomes the law of the land.

•  Secure our Borders. An important element of securing our homeland is securing our borders to prevent terrorists from gaining entry. Yet, experience teaches us that just building a taller fence will not stem the tide of illegal immigration.  We must act to strengthen the border and comprehensively reform our immigration system so that border control agents can hunt for the people who seek to do us harm as opposed to the people who seek opportunity.  Unfortunately bipartisan legislation to do just that is being hold hostage in Congress by narrow right-wing political interests.

5. RESTORE AMERICA’S MORAL AUTHORITY AND GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

We must restore America’s moral authority and global leadership by deploying the full arsenal of our national power with smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances, more effective international institutions – and fidelity to the values we have always stood for as a nation. We must remember the great lesson of the Cold War when we led the world to confront a common threat. Energetic global leadership is a strategic imperative for America, not a favor we do for other countries.

•  Work Through Global Institutions. Working through global institutions doesn't tie our hands – it invests in our aims with greater legitimacy and dampens the fear and resentment that our preponderant power sometimes inspires in others.

•  Engage in Direct Dialogue. Leadership means talking with countries that aren’t our friends. It means engaging directly when our vital national security interests are at stake – even with countries that we strongly disagree with – because treating dialogue as a means, rather than an end, can help us achieve our goals.

•  Lead By Example. We must start treating our moral authority as a precious national asset, one that does not limit our power but magnifies our influence. We should never engage in or excuse violations of basic human rights. We must uphold the rule of law in our own conduct. And we should never accept official lying by our leaders. 

•  Work for Lasting Peace in the Middle East. To defeat the radicals, we must also work to address the impression that we have done too little to achieve real progress in bringing peace to the Middle East.  Hamas’ victory at the polls makes a democratic Palestine at peace with Israel that much more distant. But we must not lose sight of the strategic value of a lasting peace that would rob Islamic extremists’ of their primary recruiting tool and deny repressive regimes their age-old excuse not to address problems at home.  This will require the active participation of other key players in the region in a major diplomatic effort that will only be possible with serious engagement from the highest levels of our government. 

•  Win the War of Ideas.  Ultimately, we will prevail by offering a more compelling vision of human potential than our adversaries – and by fulfilling America’s promise to lead the march of human progress.  We have always been a force for opportunity, for possibility, for development and for progress – not just in word but in deed. To shape our destiny in the twenty-first century, we must reclaim that role. Only then can we say that we have drawn on the best America has to offer to meet the challenges – and seize the opportunities – to make the best of this new era.

Still too Bush-Lite for me.

I fail to see how calling the Bush Admin a bunch of immoral liars, and calling for our troops to come home is "Bush-Lite". 

Too much like Bush in tone and perspective--reinforcing the Terror-mongering
and war-mongering of the Bush Administration in his introduction--mising the opportunity to reframe the major issues in ways that political leaders and ordinary folk can work on them.

The C-Span broadcast tomorrow is on at two separate times, so you can schedule likewise, 6:30 and 9:30 pm EASTERN.Don't know who will be aired first, Gov Patacki is other politician featured.

Thanks Rox for posting the text - looking forward to Senator Kerry's delivery.

The five "R"'s are a great way to feature the main goals. But - we will still hear the mantra from the opposition and the media - that the Dems have no plans. They won't let facts interfere with their talking points.

lenal

It reads great. But is it only being carried by C-SPAN?

How about the Corporate Media that uses OUR airwaves?

US rendered less safe from terrorism, Kerry says
Cites Bush's foreign policy as the reason


Senator John F. Kerry interacted with the crowd after his speech on national security yesterday at Faneuil Hall in Boston. (Wendy Maeda/ Globe Staff)

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff  |  September 10, 2006

As he prepares for a possible second run for the presidency, Senator John F. Kerry asserted yesterday that President Bush's foreign policy has made the nation less safe from terrorist threats, and said he plans to travel around the country to rebut Republican attempts to paint Democrats as weak on national security.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Bush and his top aides are playing the "fear card" in advance of the November congressional elections to mask the fact that the Iraq war has turned that country into "a fuel depot for terror" and has resulted in a civil war.

Speaking in Boston two days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- on a brilliant morning that he said was "eerily remindful of Sept. 11 itself" -- Kerry outlined a five-step strategy to make the nation safer. The plan includes withdrawing US troops from Iraq and beefing up the American military presence in Afghanistan.

"The president wants Americans to believe only one party wants to fight terror," Kerry told an enthusiastic hometown crowd at Faneuil Hall. "That is a desperately cynical game to try to win an election. I believe we need a game plan to capture and kill Osama bin Laden, not a few congressional seats."

In an interview with the Globe after the speech, Kerry said he is planning an extensive travel schedule through the fall on behalf of Democratic candidates, beginning with a trip to New Hampshire today and to Iowa next weekend.

He said he is also scheduling stops in states that don't figure as heavily in the presidential primary calendar, with House minority leader Nancy Pelosi of California organizing a five-day trip for him to make on behalf of House candidates next month.

Kerry said he plans to build off one of the lessons of his failed 2004 presidential campaign, by helping Democrats react quickly and decisively to GOP claims that they would weaken the country.

"You've got to be right back at 'em -- in their face," Kerry said. "Some people in our party want to change the subject. They want to go off and talk about something else. I think that's an enormous mistake, and I think it's weak. I think we have to be strong, we have to be clear, and we have to go at them. We did a lot of that in '04; we didn't do enough."

Reflecting another lesson learned from the campaign, Kerry yesterday attacked Bush by playing off one of his own most infamous lines -- one that Bush made famous through mockery during the 2004 campaign.

"Let me say it plainly: No American president should be for torture before he's against it," Kerry said. Kerry's 2004 statement -- "I actually did vote for the $87 billion [in war spending] before I voted against it" -- was exploited by Republicans throughout the campaign.

Republicans have made clear that they intend to make national security issues a major focus of the fall campaigns, a strategy that served them well in the past two election cycles. In a series of recent speeches, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have asserted that Democrats who want to withdraw from Iraq would endanger the nation by handing a victory to terrorists.

Within minutes of the conclusion of Kerry's speech, the Republican National Committee issued a rundown of the senator's statements and votes that Republicans say suggest weakness. The RNC also attacked Kerry for politicizing the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

"As America commemorates our nation coming together at a time of massive devastation, it's unfortunate that John Kerry attacks successful efforts to fight the central front of the ideology that inspired such horror," said Tara Wall, an RNC spokeswoman.

But Kerry said recent speeches by Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld show that Republicans will "twist any truth" to attack Democrats in congressional campaigns. And Kerry said Republicans' depictions of Democratic plans for Iraq as "cut and run" ignores the way that the Bush White House has allowed Afghanistan to backslide to the point where it is once again a breeding ground for terrorists.

"This administration has 'cut and run' while the Taliban-led insurgency is running amok across entire regions of the country," he said. "The administration has 'cut and run' while Osama bin Laden and his henchmen hide and plot in a lawless no-man's land."

Aside from deploying all combat troops from Iraq by next July and sending at least 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Kerry's plan would invest in port and cargo security while implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations; work through ``global institutions" such as the United Nations to reassert the country's "moral authority"; and reduce dependence on foreign oil sources by capping greenhouse gas emissions and investing in alternative energy technologies.

He also suggested that the Bush administration distributed homeland security money to settle political scores, saying that GOP-leaning "red states" saw disproportionate boosts in the latest round of grants, while Democratic "blue states" saw larger-than-average cuts.

"What should count here is the terrorist target list, not the Republican National Committee's target list," Kerry said.

Kerry's address was the fourth issue-based speech he has delivered in recent months at Faneuil Hall. It followed a series of efforts whereby Kerry has sought to establish himself as a firmly antiwar Democrat, after a 2004 presidential campaign in which his position on Iraq was often viewed as confusing or contradictory.

Kerry, who is considering making a second run for the White House in 2008, said nothing further yesterday about his prospects. He insisted that the speeches are an effort to make good on his 2004 campaign promise to continue fighting for the issues he believes in, and are not part of his presidential ambitions.

While the possibility of a second Kerry presidential run is dismissed by many Democrats, a series of actions by the senator have helped shape the early phases of the 2008 presidential field.

The filibuster Kerry led of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. forced other Senate Democrats to take a firm stand and has since been an object of discussion in races around the country.

While the timetable for Iraq troop withdrawal he offered failed in a lopsided Senate vote, that, too, has emerged as a marking point for Democrats nationwide, and has helped crystallize Democratic opposition to the war.

Kerry: Bush uses 9/11 as ‘political pawn’

By Kimberly Atkins
Boston Herald Reporter
Sunday, September 10, 2006 - Updated: 10:54 AM EST

Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blasted the Bush administration for war and homeland security policies that he said leave Americans more vulnerable to attack.

Kerry’s remarks came in a Faneuil Hall speech on the eve of tomorrow’s five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

In his fourth speech this year at the venue, Kerry accused the administration of using the tragedy that killed about 3,000 Americans to justify the war in Iraq.

“It is immoral to treat 9/11 as a political pawn (to) excuse the invasion of Iraq,” Kerry said. “They were attacked and killed not by Saddam Hussein but by Osama bin Laden.”

Kerry, who is likely prepping for another presidential run, urged Democrats to “redeploy from Iraq, recommit to Afghanistan, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reinforce our homeland defense and restore America’s moral leadership in the world.” Kerry also laid out the strategy in a Boston Herald Op-Ed column yesterday.

He called the London terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airplanes - thwarted last month - an example of the need to bolster the focus on Afghanistan.

“The Bush-Cheney administration (has) cut and run even as we learn (the plan’s mastermind) was an al-Qaeda leader operating from Afghanistan,” Kerry said. “That’s right - the same killers who attacked us on 9/11 are still plotting attacks against America, and they’re still holed up in Afghanistan.”

He also accused Republicans of playing politics with Homeland Security funding by decreasing funds for “states that need it most - which happens to be ‘blue’ states,” while increasing it in “the ‘red’ states that need it least.”

“What should count here is the terrorist list, not the Republican National Committee’s political target list,” Kerry said.

Kerry’s speech comes a day after the Republican National Committee launched a Web site (www.demfacts.com) that the group says “highlights Democrat leaders’ hypocrisy by juxtaposing their prewar intelligence statements to their current attacks,” according to the site.