–John Kerry, September 15, 2004
WHAT ABOUT some of John Kerry’s foreign policy choices in the last two decades?
(l) AGAINST President Reagan’s defense build-up that helped win the Cold War
Reagan’s “defense buildup,” said Kerry in 1984, “is consuming our resources with weapons systems that we don’t need and can’t use. . . . There’s no excuse for casting even one vote for unnecessary weapons of mass destruction . . . and I will never do so.”
(2) FOR an American nuclear weapons freeze that would have weakened U.S.-European ties, emboldened the Soviet Union, and strengthened the hand of hard-liners within the Soviet Union
Kerry sponsored the Comprehensive Nuclear Freeze and Arms Reduction Act of 1985, saying, “It is time that we accept the idea that the Soviet Union is not going to bargain with the United States from a position in which we have grabbed the upper hand through the development of some new technology.”
(3) AGAINST the 1991 Senate resolution authoring the use of force to eject Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, as he was close to developing nuclear weapons
In January 1991, Kerry spoke in the Senate against the first Gulf War: The “consensus [to use force] must be broad and openly arrived at with full respect for the constitutional role of the Congress–not by unilateral action of the president, absent true consultation. . . . There is a rush to war here. I do not know why, but there is a rush to war. . . . Can it really be said that this is a true New World order when it lacks a true United Nations collective security effort, with the full measure of international cooperation and burden-sharing which it should carry. . . . I am well aware of the dangers of Saddam Hussein to the region and the long-term danger of his arsenal–of nuclear, chemical, biological weapons. But I did not know the United States was in the habit of fighting preemptive wars and, more important, the constant references to Saddam Hussein being a future threat have nothing to do with the UN resolutions.”
(4) FOR cutting the defense budget by 2 percent in 1991; FOR cutting the intelligence budget by $6 billion over six years in 1994; FOR a seven-year freeze on defense spending to reduce defense expenditures by over $34 billion, and a five-year cut in the intelligence budget totaling $1.5 billion in 1995; and FOR a $6.5 billion cut from defense spending in 1996
(5) FOR and AGAINST $87 billion to fund U.S. military forces in Iraq
As Kerry put it, “I voted for the appropriation before I voted against it.”
(6) FOR and AGAINST the removal of Saddam Hussein from power
Kerry voted to authorize a war that he now calls the “wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
One might say that every time John Kerry has had a significant foreign policy choice, he has chosen the wrong thing–except when he has refused to choose.
Daniel McKivergan is deputy director at the Project for the New American Century.
Previous Campaign Memos:
Another New Kerry Position on Iraq . . . and the same one on Vietnam. September 15, 2004
Kerry and the “Direct Link,” The Kerry campaign is distorting Dick Cheney’s words. September 13, 2004
Kerry’s North Korea Non-policy, John Kerry calls the New York Times with complaints, but no plan. September 13, 2004
If John Kerry Were President, . . . Saddam would still be in power. September 8, 2004
Kerry vs. Kerry, What does “the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time” mean? September 7, 2004
The Kerry Record, What John Kerry about foreign policy and defense in 1984 and 1985. September 3, 2004
It Was This Big . . ., Does John Kerry still believe that the terror threat is an “exaggeration”? September 1, 2004
John Edwards: Disrespecting Our Allies, America isn’t acting alone. September 1, 2004
No Bargain, The “grand bargain” John Kerry and John Edwards are prepared to offer Iran deserves serious scrutiny. September 1, 2004
