Kerry on Iraq War

Republican Smear Video Distorts the Truth

What is Kerry's plan for dealing with Iraq?

Kerry's comments on how to deal with the catastrophe in Iraq focus on things that need to be done now, rather than plans for January — rightly so, since he doesn't know what he'll find in January. He calls for a change of course based on the same points he's been stressing for the last two years: The go-it-alone policy needs to be scrapped. We need to “get the target off the backs” of our young men and women in uniform, and to do this, the U.S. needs to make a realistic effort to bring in assistance from Iraq’s neighbors and our European allies. At the same time, we need to do a serious and competent job of training Iraqi security forces and involving Iraqis in the rebuilding effort.

In a speech at New York University on September 20th, he called on President Bush to take action in four areas:

1. Get help from our allies. "First, the President has to get the promised international support so our men and women in uniform don’t have to go it alone. It is late; the President must respond by moving this week to gain and regain international support."

Get the promised international support so our men and women in uniform don’t go it alone.
Of the $13 billion pledged to Iraq by other countries, only $1.2 billion has been delivered. President Bush must insist that they make good on that U.N. resolution.
Give other countries a stake in Iraq’s future by encouraging them to help develop Iraq’s oil resources and by letting them bid on contracts instead of locking them out of the reconstruction process.

2. Get serious about training Iraqi security forces. "Last February, Secretary Rumsfeld claimed that more than 210,000 Iraqis were in uniform, but just 5,000 Iraqi soldiers have been fully trained, by the administration’s own minimal standards."

Recruit thousands of qualified trainers from our allies
Given the difficulties of training security forces in Iraq, where they are subject to attack, we should press our NATO allies to open training centers for Iraqi security forces in their countries.
Stop misleading the American people with phony, inflated numbers.

3. Get the reconstruction focused on bringing tangible benefits and hope to the Iraqi people. "One year ago, the administration asked for and received $18 billion to relieve the conditions that contribute to the insurgency. Today, less than $1 billion of those funds have actually been spent."

Produce a list of high visibility, quick impact projects that cut through the red tape
Use more Iraqi contractors and workers, instead of big corporations like Halliburton.
Fire the civilians in the Pentagon responsible for mismanaging the reconstruction effort.

4. Take immediate steps to guarantee the promised elections can be held next year. "Credible elections are key to producing an Iraqi government that enjoys the support of the Iraqi people."

Recruit troops from our friends and allies for a U.N. protection force
Intensify the training of Iraqis to manage and guard the polling places.

After many months of prodding, President Bush has made some efforts to get help from our allies, with scant success. Nevertheless, Kerry has called on him to renew his efforts to repair the diplomatic bridges he burned and immediately take the steps listed above. President Bush may well have difficulty carrying out this plan, however, for two reasons:

1. President Bush has pursued a policy of staffing the reconstruction effort with civilians who have no experience or knowledge in managing a project of this kind. The people in charge of the crucial project of rebuilding Iraq were chosen solely on the basis of their loyalty to the Republican Party and/or the Bush administration, while people with actual knowledge and experience were dismissed for lacking the proper Party credentials. (Sources: "Who's Who: Special Baghdad Edition", "To the Cronies Go the Spoils", "Doing Well in Iraq") Kerry has called on him to replace the incompetent personnel in Iraq with people who have the necessary skills to get the job done.

2. President Bush has personally lost credibility with our allies. World opinion on Mr. Bush's arrogant treatment of other world leaders was perhaps best reflected by their response to his UN address on September 20, 2004. The audience applauded exactly once: when he finished speaking. It will take a new president with renewed credibility to do the hard work of restoring our allies' trust in the United States and persuading them to work together with us to restore order in Iraq.

"Some countries would want a more low-risk situation, but they could patrol borders, help do training of police and security forces, help with reconstruction, help with election monitoring. There's a job for everyone. I travel the world [ …] and I can tell you that I've had many, many people in other countries tell me that there is no chance of them contributing anything without a change in US leadership, because they simply don't trust that they will be listened to, that they will be involved, that they will be engaged, that they will have any part of the reconstruction under the current administration. So it is not to say the task will be easy for John Kerry — the task will not be easy — but it certainly will give us a shot at internationalizing this." — Wendy Sherman, Foreign policy adviser for the Kerry campaign, C-SPAN September 21, 2004

For the longer term, Kerry has proposed the following strategy:

Persuade NATO to Make the Security of Iraq one of its Global Missions and to deploy a significant portion of the force needed to secure and win the peace in Iraq. NATO participation will in turn open the door to greater international involvement from non-NATO countries.
Internationalize the Non-Iraqi Reconstruction Personnel in Iraq, to share the costs and burdens, end the continuing perception of a U.S. occupation, and help coordinate reconstruction efforts, draft the constitution and organize elections.
Launch a Massive and Accelerated Training Effort to Build Iraqi Security Forces that can provide real security for the Iraqi people, including a major role for NATO.
Plan for Iraq’s Future by working with our allies to forgive Iraq’s multi-billion dollar debts and by supporting the development of a new Iraqi constitution and the political arrangements needed to protect minority rights.
Convene a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors in order to secure a pledge of respect for Iraq's borders and non-interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.
From Winning the Peace in Iraq

Several months after Kerry made these proposals, President Bush has begun trying to follow some of Kerry's recommendations, with little to show for his efforts so far. It will require an administration which our allies can trust, and a serious effort in diplomacy, to get more assistance in Iraq.

"We have to move our allies beyond the resentment they feel about the Bush administration's failed diplomacy so they can focus on their interest in fighting terrorism and promoting peace. The best way to do that is to vest friends and allies in Iraq's future. On the economic front, that means giving them fair access to the multibillion-dollar reconstruction contracts. It also means letting them be a part of putting Iraq's profitable oil industry back together. In return, they must forgive Hussein's multibillion-dollar debts to their countries and pay their fair share of the reconstruction bill.

"We should also give them a leadership role in pursuing our wider strategic goals in the region. As partners, we should convene a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors. Such a conference would have two goals. First, it should secure a pledge from Iraq's neighbors to respect Iraq's borders and not to interfere in its internal affairs. And second, it should commit Iraq's leaders to provide clear protection for minorities, thus removing a major justification for possible outside intervention. Together, we should jump-start large-scale involvement with an international high commissioner to coordinate economic assistance and organize and implement these diplomatic initiatives.

"Then, having taken these dramatic steps, we could realistically call on NATO to step up to its responsibilities. Our goal should be an alliance commitment to deploy a major portion of the peacekeeping force that will be needed in Iraq for a long time to come. Just as NATO came together to contain the Soviet Union and bring peace to Bosnia and Kosovo, with the right kind of leadership from us NATO can be mobilized to help stabilize Iraq and the region. And if NATO comes, others will too." — John Kerry, A Realistic Path in Iraq, July 4, 2004

The New York Times commented on the feasability of this plan:

"For months, Mr. Kerry has advocated broader international oversight of Iraq's prospective interim government, a formula that might open the door to additional peacekeeping contributions and generate some real support for nation-building there. Now he has begun to elaborate on how that oversight should be structured, drawing sensible lessons from successes and failures of the recent past.

"Mr. Kerry recognizes that the United Nations cannot offer any magic bullet solutions for Iraq, and that working with Secretary General Kofi Annan and his special representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, cannot be a substitute for broad cooperation with all the major powers represented in the Security Council. To this end, while endorsing Mr. Brahimi's efforts to put together a transitional Iraqi government, Mr. Kerry also proposes designating an international high commissioner for Iraq whose office would be outside the barelyfunctional, patronage-driven U.N. personnel system. That would permit the recruitment of a capable staff and create some safeguards against the kind of wholesale corruption that is alleged to have vitiated the U.N.'s oil-for-food program in Iraq.

"This feature of the Kerry proposal draws on the pattern of international oversight in Bosnia. While far from perfect, Bosnia's transition has worked out a lot better than Iraq's and elicited far wider international cooperation. Mr. Kerry also invokes the Bosnia example when he suggests that the NATO alliance be directly involved in Iraqi peacekeeping operations. That could help make NATO more relevant to the post-cold-war world and would ease the burden on America's badly strained military. An American commander would still be in overall charge of security." — from New York Times editorial May 6, 2004

Of course, the longer President Bush delays in making realistic efforts to repair our alliances and address the myriad problems in the reconstruction effort, the more difficult it will be to implement any plan now on the table. Mr. Kerry cannot know what the situation will be in late January, and so he may have to modify his proposals. In the meantime, he has called on President Bush to take steps immediately to address the situation.

What is Kerry's plan for dealing with Iraq?

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