Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (36332)	1/26/2004 1:11:26 PM
From: jlallen	Respond to of 89467

No threat? Hmmmmmm............ I'm beginning to doubt your sanity....

To: lurqer who wrote (36332)	1/26/2004 1:24:03 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 89467

John Kerry comments on Foreign Policy... johnkerry.com “Americans deserve a principled diplomacy...backed by undoubted military might...based on enlightened self-interest, not the zero-sum logic of power politics...a diplomacy that commits America to lead the world toward liberty and prosperity. A bold progressive internationalism that focuses not just on the immediate and imminent, but insidious dangers that can mount over the next years and decade, dangers that span the spectrum from the denial of democracy, to destructive weapons, endemic poverty and epidemic disease. These are not just issues of international order, but vital issues of our own national security.” -John Kerry "Making America Secure Again" John Kerry addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on Wednesday, December 3rd. In his speech, Senator Kerry laid out a roadmap to reverse the damage to U.S. security and leadership caused by President Bush’s flawed policies of unilateralism and preemptive war, and to create a new era of alliances that will meet the challenge of global terrorism. Listen to this talk at... mfile.akamai.com Supporting Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Measures “The central challenge for the United States is to undertake to lead the most global, comprehensive effort in history to deal with proliferation and nuclear weapons lost or loose in a dangerous world.” Senator Kerry has been an outspoken proponent of arms control and non-proliferation measures in the Senate. He fought against withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which he viewed as a step backwards in our efforts to promote an international non-proliferation regime. “U.S. rejection of the Treaty would undermine the credibility of U.S. leadership on non-proliferation,” he said in a floor statement, “which will jeopardize U.S. work to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons…and to block the sale of sensitive technologies that could contribute to proliferation.” When the Administration sought ratification of a nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia that lacked verification procedures, Kerry proposed an amendment requiring annual monitoring reports. “The Treaty runs the risk of increasing the danger of nuclear theft by stockpiling thousands of warheads,” he said, “if we are to make America safer, and we must, it will take more than cosmetic treaties that leave Russia's nuclear arsenal in place.” In order to address the threat to our national security posed by unsecured weapons of mass destruction, Senator Kerry supported legislation providing American expertise and funding to the nations of the former Soviet Union to help secure nuclear stockpiles, a program that he now supports extending to other countries, and he has recently called for a major new international initiative to confront this problem. “It is time for the most determined, all-out effort ever initiated to secure the world’s nuclear materials and weapons of mass destruction” he said, “the only answer the clear imperative is a multi-lateral framework implementing global consensus that weapons of mass destruction under the control of terrorists represents the most serious threat to international security today, and warrants an urgent and global response.” Increasing America’s Energy Security “Setting a national goal of reducing our reliance on Middle East oil within this next decade is critical to the long-term national security of the United States. No foreign government can embargo clean, domestic, renewable sources of energy and no terrorist can seize control of them.” Senator Kerry recently proposed a major new initiative designed to increase America’s security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. “Our national security is at stake and we have to act today, not wait for decades while new crises threaten or strike,” he said. By increasing energy efficiency and promoting use of alternative energy sources, Kerry’s plan would free America from reliance on oil from Middle Eastern nations that can be unstable and hostile to our interests, while preserving our natural resources and creating thousands of new jobs for Americans. “Today we have an energy policy of big oil, by big oil, and for big oil,” he said. “It may work for their profits, but it will never work for America.”

To: lurqer who wrote (36332)	1/26/2004 1:34:13 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Kerry hits out at Bush over Iraq guardian.co.uk Adam Blenford and agencies Monday January 26, 2004 12.45pm update Senator John Kerry, the Vietnam veteran who is leading opinion polls ahead of tomorrow's crucial Democratic primary in New Hampshire, has sharply criticised the US president, George Bush, over his decision to invade Iraq. Brushing off an attack by his Democratic rival Wesley Clark, the former general who claimed that Mr Kerry's "yes" vote in the Senate helped to hand the president a "blank cheque" for war in Iraq, the Massachusetts senator compared Iraq with the stalemate in Vietnam 30 years ago and called for an independent inquiry into the reasons America went to war. On the campaign trail in New Hampshire yesterday Mr Kerry called recent US foreign policy "arrogant and inept". Interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes programme, Mr Kerry said: "It's young people dying young for the wrong reasons, because leaders don't do the things that they should do to protect them. "I believe this president breached faith. You truly should go to war as a matter of last resort. I'm afraid this president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace." Mr Kerry's words came as the resignation of the chief US weapons inspector David Kay prompted renewed scepticism about the legitimacy of President Bush's invasion of Iraq last year. Speaking yesterday, Mr Kay questioned the accuracy of the intelligence that Mr Bush used to claim that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. In response, Mr Kerry told Fox News: "It confirms what I have said for a long period of time, that we were misled - misled not only in the intelligence, but misled in the way that the president took us to war. "I think there's been an enormous amount of exaggeration, stretching, deception." The re-emergence of Iraq as an issue on the campaign trail allowed Mr Kerry to rebut claims by General Clark that his inconsistent voting record on war issues undermines his credibility. Although Mr Kerry voted in favour of war last year, he opposed the first Gulf war in 1991, claiming that military action should be used only as a last resort - the complaint of many anti-war campaigners in 2003. Last year, however, Mr Kerry voted in favour of military action because of "real and grave fears" that Saddam Hussein was ready to use chemical and biological weapons against western interests. The former Vermont governor Howard Dean, Mr Kerry's closest rival in the polls, dismissed claims that he lacks foreign policy experience, instead questioning Mr Kerry's anti-war credentials. "A lot of folks in the campaign, including Senator Kerry, complain about my lack of foreign policy experience," Dr Dean told a rally last night. "But he voted not to go to war when the oil wells were on fire and the troops were in Kuwait." Last night Mr Kerry brushed aside criticism of his voting record, laying the blame for war squarely on the shoulders of President Bush and the vice-president, Dick Cheney. "Dick Cheney and others in the administration misled the American people with respect to the true status of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The administration has to be held accountable for that," he said. "I voted for a process by which war would be the last resort. And those are the conditions that the president himself established. He said, 'I will build a coalition. We're going to use the United Nations, we will inspect, and I will go to war as a last resort.' He did not do any of those things. So yes, I believe we should have stood up to Saddam Hussein, I thought it was important for our nation's security. There was a right way to do it, and there was a wrong way to do it. The president chose the wrong way." Despite the re-emergence of Iraq as a campaign issue, most candidates are attempting to focus the debate on social issues, including health care and tax cuts. Last night, Joe Lieberman, Denis Kucinich and Howard Dean attended a debate on women's issues in Hanover, New Hampshire, where each presented himself as a Democrat who could beat George Bush in November's election.