Apologies for the 1 week lag time, but here goes my report:
Gen. Wes Clark came to speak tonight at Shriver.
He was excellent! His speech was about strategic leadership in the information age, which sounds boring but was great in person. He talked about how our nation as a whole is in a state of transition from the old Cold War mindset, which ended after the Berlin wall fell and USSR fell apart, to a new, post-Cold War world, where the challenges that we face are not as well defined as before (i.e. the Red Menance). Clark explained that for about a decade, from 1991 to 2001, we were basking in our victory over the Communists and that the period of unprecedented economic boom and technology development contributed to not developing and promulgating our foreign policy strategy adequately. Now, we are faced with a variety of challenges, from humanitarian interventations to capturing terrorists, that we may not be able to respond to with a strategy that represents our American values.
He noted that while GW and his cohorts are using the preemptive-war paradigm, as a nation, we do not necessarily have to agree with what they are doing. He remarked that the upcoming election is one of the most important presidential elections in American history, determining the direction of our foreign policy, and, broadly, our national strategy, both domestic and foreign, for generations to come.
As it has been reported in the op-ed pages of the New York Times, and elsewhere, the $200 billion that we have spent in Iraq could have been better spent on improving our internal security, especially beefing up our ports and cargo systems.(Baltimore is a major port and only a small portion of the total traffic through the port is scrutinized. Also notible is airport security, which is not only a major frustration, but pretty ineffective as well.) Not to mention the 1000 or so US deaths, and thousands and thousands of civilian deaths so far in GW's war. Afganistan is still extremely unstable, as is Iraq.
The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself, as FDR said. The only thing that we have to fear come November 2nd is 4 more years of political FUD and disinformation from the other side.
John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004 -- A stronger America indeed.
------
Links to relevant information:
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20040927&s=legum -- Republican scare tactics.
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/news/news_2004_0630a.html
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/weapons.html -- outline of Kerry's plan to stop NBC terror threats.
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/newthreats.html -- "A New Military To Meet New Threats"
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/terrorism.html