John Kerry Wants to be President so he can Add 40,000 US Troops to Iraq John Kerry Presidential Campaign Website 28feb04

John Kerry will work to expand participation and share responsibility with other countries in the military operations in Iraq. Kerry will also increase the size of the U.S. Army in order to meet the needs of a new century and the new global war on terror. The Bush Administration is overstretching the American military, and in particular the U.S. Army. There is a critical shortage of combat troops facing the country. General Keane, then acting Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, said in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last summer that the Army is undermanned by about 40,000 personnel. This shortage is placing an unfair burden on soldiers and their families and is undermining our efforts around the world.

40,000 Active-Duty Troops.

Kerry is calling to add 40,000 troops to the active-duty Army. The United States should add the equivalent of a current division, about 20,000 combat troops, to the active duty Army. Under Kerry’s plan the United States should also add an additional 20,000 individuals to the active force with specialties in post-conflict skills, such as civil affairs and the military police in order to relieve the excessive burden on our reservists. Relieve Pressure on Service Members. The buildup, which will require time to implement, will relieve the mismatch between active and reserve capabilities and also allow us to thank returning reservists when they rotate out of Iraq in 3 to 9 months—not just with our gratitude but with a reasonable assurance that they will not have to again deploy to Iraq in the immediate future.

source: http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/iraq/ 28feb04

John Kerry Wants to Add 40,000 US Troops to Iraq - John Kerry Presidential Campaign Website 28feb04

"It's Time to Get Over It' John Kerry Tells Antiwar Movement to Move On"

John Kerry's Positions on Key Issues

AP 30jan04

ABORTION: Supports abortion rights. Would nominate only Supreme Court justices who support abortion rights. Voted against partial birth ban.

DEATH PENALTY: Opposes "other than in cases of real international and domestic terrorism."

ECONOMY-TAXES: Proposes to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans; keep parts of the package for middle- and low-income people. Spend on highways, school construction, pollution cleanup, energy projects and more to create 3 million jobs in 500 days.

EDUCATION: Proposes $3.2 billion community service plan for high school students that would qualify them for the equivalent of their state's four-year public college tuition. Opposes vouchers. Wants to revise the way student progress is measured under 2001 education reform law, to include factors beyond tests such as student attendance and parental satisfaction with school.

ENVIRONMENT-ENERGY: Wants U.S. to re-engage "in the development of an international climate change strategy," apparently stopping short of endorsing Kyoto treaty in its present form. No drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Has supported tougher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles. Goal of 20 percent of electricity from renewable or alternative sources by 2020. Steer $20 billion from oil and gas royalties to development of cleaner energy. Goal of independence from Middle East oil in 10 years. Tougher standards for companies operating on public lands.

FARMING: Backs unspecified increase in farm conservation programs. Supported 2002 bill that boosted farm subsidies.

GAY RIGHTS: Opposes gay marriage; supports right of same-sex couples to enter civil unions qualifying them for "basic legal protections" that married couples get. Would let gays serve openly in the armed forces.

GUNS: Supports renewing the ban on assault-type weapons and would require the same background checks at gun shows that are mandatory for other gun sales. Wants child-safety locks to be mandatory on handguns.

HEALTH CARE: Would expand insurance system for federal employees to private citizens through tax credits and subsidies. Unemployed would get 75 percent tax credit to help pay for insurance. Tax credits for small businesses and their employees for health insurance. People aged 55 to 64 could buy into federal employees' health plan at affordable price. Government would help companies and insurers pay an employee's catastrophic medical costs if the firms would agree to hold down premiums. Federal support to expand access to state-administered health insurance for children.

IMMIGRATION: People who have been in the United States at least five years, paid taxes and "stayed out of trouble ought to be able to translate into an American citizen immediately."

IRAQ WAR: Supported resolution authorizing war but now says he did so based on faulty U.S. intelligence. Opposed $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan. Would replace the U.S. provisional authority in Iraq with U.N. leadership, boost number of Americans in uniform worldwide by 40,000 and put Saddam Hussein on trial in Iraq before a combined Iraqi-international tribunal.

TRADE: Supported North American and world trade agreements and elevated trade status with China. Says trade agreements should have labor and environmental standards, but United States cannot insist in these deals that foreign standards rise to the level of America's. That would be "a policy for shutting the door."

Kerry details plan to up troops, blasts Dean on UN stance

PATRICK HEALY / Boston Globe 17dec03

DES MOINES -- Presidential candidate John F. Kerry called yesterday for temporarily expanding the US armed forces by 40,000 troops as well as recasting foreign policy in light of Saddam Hussein's capture. He also attacked rival Howard Dean as espousing a "Simon Says" vision of global affairs in which America acts only after other nations do.

Flanked by a dozen American flags and two rows of veterans and students at a Drake University auditorium in Des Moines, Kerry criticized not only President Bush for pursuing a policy of "unilateralism and ideological preemption," but also "those in my own party" -- naming Dean a few moments later -- "who threaten to take us down a road of confusion and retreat."

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam war veteran and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 19 years who has made his expertise in global affairs a key component of his presidential campaign, touted his foreign policy doctrine as "a third path," between the poles of Bush and Dean. He said he wanted "a bold, progressive internationalism -- backed by undoubted military might -- that commits America to lead in the cause of human liberty and prosperity."

Dean, in his own foreign policy speech Monday, reiterated his opposition to the Iraq war and said Hussein's capture, while making American troops safer in Iraq, did not improve US national security.

Kerry reiterated his argument that Dean has flip-flopped in his remarks over the last 14 months about confronting Hussein and disarming Iraq. Then he blasted the former Vermont governor's past suggestion that United Nations approval would be important before invading Iraq. Kerry, while a strong champion of the UN, cast Dean's own comments about the world body as suggesting that, as president, Dean would let the UN govern US foreign policy.

"Perhaps it reflects inexperience, but for Howard Dean to permit a veto over when America can or cannot act becomes only a little more than a pretext for doing nothing -- it cedes our security and presidential responsibility to defend America to someone else," Kerry said.

Kerry compared Dean with the line of 20th-century Democratic presidents, from Woodrow Wilson to Harry Truman to Bill Clinton, who interceded abroad to fight fascism and protect human rights.

"To follow the path that Howard Dean seems to prefer is to embrace a kind of `Simon Says' foreign policy where America only moves if others move first," Kerry said. "And that is just as wrong as George Bush's policy of schoolyard taunts and cowboy swagger. Our job is to lead the world to a better place, to convince allies of mutual interest and of global responsibilities."

Kerry's assault on Dean -- who leads in New Hampshire and Iowa opinion polls -- lasted about four minutes, but the rest of the 35-minute speech dealt largely with Iraq as an example of Bush's "go-it-alone attitude." Kerry also briefly mentioned Afghanistan, North Korea, Venezuela, and global warming as examples where Bush had "endangered our interests and enraged those who should be our friends."

Kerry said Hussein's capture gave Bush a chance "to transform the situation in Iraq from an American occupation to a global coalition" by reaching out to France, Germany, Russia, and other countries that opposed the war. He chided Bush for showing "childish retribution" by denying Iraqi reconstruction contracts to those antiwar nations while asking them to ease Iraq's debts and provide other assistance.

Having called previously for an increase in US armed forces at a time when they are deployed in several global hot spots, Kerry put a number on his proposal yesterday -- an additional 40,000 troops, the equivalent of two divisions -- to the 480,000 total active-duty Army. He said he did not "want to do it as a permanent step," nor would the expansion involve any increase in US troops in Iraq.

Kerry also said he favors a "mixed tribunal" of international judges and Iraqis to create "a fair and valid" process of trying Hussein in Iraq. He said he learned from his work helping form a tribunal on genocide in Cambodia that a nation's people should be directly involved in holding a past, brutal regime responsible for its crimes.

Kerry Denies Calling For 40,000 More Troops.

From GOP Website 28feb04

KUCINICH: “You said you want to send 40,000 more troops [to Iraq].” KERRY: “I have never said that.” KUCINICH: “You never said you wanted to bring 40,000 more troops ever?” KERRY: “No …” (CNN/Los Angeles Times, Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Los Angeles, CA, 2/26/04)

But Kerry Did Call For 40,000 More Troops To Meet Commitments In Iraq And Around World.