I don't think John Kerry's comments,
''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance..."
and
''As a former law enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''
mean that he views terrorism as a nuisance by any means. I think they represent a far more realistic view of the world than that put forth by George Bush.
To think that we will ever 'eradicate' terrorism is to engage in wishful thinking. As the sole remaining superpower there will always be those who wish to attack us and, lacking the ability to do so in standard military terms, they will resort to terrorism to do so. I believe that Kerry's comments reflect that reality and I believe he offers us a realistic method of dealing with them.
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_s.../terrorism.html
We have lived with terrorism from various sources at the periphery of our lives for decades, and to a far lesser extent than many other nations. The history of Israel and Nothern Ireland are two that come quickly to mind. Even the French, who we deride as not understanding terrorism, have lived with it for quite a while as the Algerian separatists brought their attacks to French soil.
What 9/11 did was make us realize just how dangerous, and how prevalent, such threats are and how deeply rooted such hatred for us is. Attacks against Americans are not something new but the fact that Presidents (from BOTH parties) have failed to realistically address the issue has not helped.
I, for one, would much rather see us reach a point where terrorism can be dealt with as a criminal issue because I believe that terrorism is a crime against humanity and that those who use such methods are criminals. Like Kerry, I hope we someday reach a point where that is possible.
While I opposed, and continue to oppose, the decision to invade Iraq, I agree that now that we are there we will have to deal with the situation. I don't believe that George Bush is dealing with the realities of Iraq as much as he is trying to imprint what he wants Iraq to be on Iraq, and I don't believe that this is a viable solution. We have never been able to achieve success when we have tried such things in the past and I see no evidence that he has come up with a more successful plan in this instance.
What I don't want to see is for us to 'declare victory' and leave Iraq to its own devices as the world did with Afghanistan after the Soviets were withdrew. The vacuum created there allowed the Taliban to come to power and allowed Al Qaeda a safe haven to plot and plan. If we leave Iraq with a system that will not work for them so that we can disengage ourselves from Iraq, we risk making that mistake again. I think that John Kerry's plan for "winning the peace" in Iraq offers a far greater potential for real success.
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/iraq.html
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