John Kerry gave a major national security address today. You wouldn't know it from the media reports, but he absolutely knocked it out of the park.
The full text of Kerry's remarks at Temple University, which Atrios caught live, is here. If you want to hear what a President who is both wise and clever sounds like, read the whole thing. It's not a long speech.
A few of my favorite excerpts:
President Bush was right to invade Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban. I supported that decision. So did our country and our allies. So did the world.But since then, again and again, the President has made the wrong choices in the war on terror… around the world and here at home....
The war on terror is as monumental a struggle as the Cold War. Its outcome will determine whether we and our children live in freedom or in fear. It is not, as some people think, a clash of civilizations. Radical Islamic fundamentalism is not the true face of Islam. This is a clash between civilization and the enemies of civilization; between humanity’s best hopes and most primitive fears. The danger we face today will become even greater if the terrorists acquire what we know they are seeking – weapons of mass destruction, which they would use to commit mass murder. We are confronting an enemy and an ideology that must be destroyed. We are in a war that must be won. ...
I will wage this war relentlessly with a single-minded determination: to capture or kill the terrorists, crush their movement and free the world from fear. To destroy our enemy, we have to know our enemy. We have to understand that we are facing a radical fundamentalist movement with global reach and a very specific plan. They are not just out to kill us for the sake of killing us. They want to provoke a conflict that will radicalize the people of the Muslim world, turning them against the United States and the West. And they hope to transform that anger into a force that will topple the region’s governments and pave the way for a new empire, an oppressive, fundamentalist superstate stretching across a vast area from Europe to Africa, from the Middle East to Central Asia. ...
Al Qaeda shouldn’t be hitting us anywhere. They should be losing, everywhere. We should be winning, everywhere.
That will take time. It will not be easy. But it can be done. And I have a comprehensive strategy for victory over terrorism.
First, I will build a stronger, smarter military and intelligence capability to capture or kill our enemies. ...
Second, I will move decisively to deny the terrorists the deadly weapons they seek. ...
Third, as president, I will wage a war on terrorist finances every bit as total as the war we wage on the terrorists themselves. ...
Fourth, as president, I will make homeland security a real priority by offering a real plan, and backing it with real resources. ...
Fifth, as we go after the terrorists and secure our homeland, I will focus on the long-term frontline of this war. To defeat the terrorists’ aims, we must deny them recruits and safe havens. ...
Sixth, we will promote the development of free and democratic societies throughout the Arab and Muslim world. ...
Finally, we will be stronger if we do not go it alone. As president, I will rebuild and lead strong alliances. ...I believe we can win the war on terror. We can defeat, capture and kill those who commit terror. I have just outlined a strategy for victory.
I know this struggle will be waged in many ways and many places. I know that it will be a long and difficult struggle. I know we have to be resolute in confronting the evil that exists in the world. But in the end, one of our greatest strengths, one of our greatest safeguards, is that America can be the ideal that inspires others everywhere. If we again become that beacon of hope, we will discover in ourselves the most powerful and useful weapons in the war against the terrorists. Because if we are true to ourselves, terrorists cannot defeat the values and vision that have made America great.
(Link via everythingsruined.)
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