Kerry's Plan on Iraq

The following is excerpted from a speech John Kerry delivered in New York on Sept. 20.

...National security is a central issue in this campaign.  We owe it to the American people to have a real debate about the choices President Bush has made… and the choices I would make… to fight and win the war on terror.

That means we must have a great honest national debate on Iraq. The President claims it is the centerpiece of his war on terror.  In fact, Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the terrorists. Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions and, if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.

This month, we passed a cruel milestone:  more than 1,000 Americans lost in Iraq.  Their sacrifice reminds us that Iraq remains, overwhelmingly, an American burden.  Nearly 90 percent of the troops — and nearly 90 percent of the casualties — are American.   Despite the President’s claims, this is not a grand coalition.

Our troops have served with extraordinary bravery, skill and resolve.  Their service humbles all of us. When I speak to them… when I look into the eyes of their families, I know this:  we owe them the truth about what we have asked them to do… and what is still to be done.

In June, the President declared, “The Iraqi people have their country back.”   Just last week, he told us: “This country is headed toward democracy… Freedom is on the march.” 

But the administration’s own official intelligence estimate, given to the President last July, tells a very different story. 

According to press reports, the intelligence estimate totally contradicts what the President is saying to the American people.

So do the facts on the ground.

Security is deteriorating, for us and for the Iraqis. 

42 Americans died in Iraq in June – the month before the handover.  But 54 died in July… 66 in August… and already 54 halfway through September. 

And more than 1,100 Americans were wounded in August — more than in any other month since the invasion. 

We are fighting a growing insurgency in an ever widening war-zone.  In March, insurgents attacked our forces 700 times.  In August, they attacked 2,700 times – a 400% increase. 

Falluja…Ramadi… Samarra … even parts of Baghdad — are now “no go zones”… breeding grounds for terrorists who are free to plot and launch attacks against our soldiers. The radical Shi’a cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, who’s accused of complicity in the murder of Americans, holds more sway in the suburbs of Baghdad.

Violence against Iraqis… from bombings to kidnappings to intimidation… is on the rise.  

Basic living conditions are also deteriorating.

Residents of Baghdad are suffering electricity blackouts lasting up to 14 hours a day. 

Raw sewage fills the streets, rising above the hubcaps of our Humvees.  Children wade through garbage on their way to school.

Unemployment is over 50 percent.  Insurgents are able to find plenty of people willing to take $150 for tossing grenades at passing U.S. convoys.

Yes, there has been some progress, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our soldiers and civilians in Iraq.  Schools, shops and hospitals have been opened.  In parts of Iraq, normalcy actually prevails. 

But most Iraqis have lost faith in our ability to deliver meaningful improvements to their lives.  So they’re sitting on the fence… instead of siding with us against the insurgents.

That is the truth.  The truth that the Commander in Chief owes to our troops and the American people.