Question Number Nine: What should John Kerry say in his concluding remarks at the presidential debates?

America needs to be strong. Strength demands that we tell the truth to the American people - that the war on Iraq is not the same as a war against terrorism. Instead the war in Iraq has hindered the war against terror and diverted resources away from fighting terrorism - both at home and abroad. Known terrorists remain at-large, and precious little funding has been devoted to first-responders or to ensure the safety of our airplanes, ports, chemical sites, and public spaces.

We need to develop specific strategies and tactics to capture and isolate known terrorists. To isolate terrorists, we need to have the strength to stop those policies that are likely to cause broad-based outrage against the U.S. and that could possibly result in any increase in support for terrorists.

But we are deeply entwined in Iraq now. So we need to have a serious strategy for moving forward.

1. We need to stop relying on and promoting Iraqis who were former CIA informants. There are Iraqi-Americans and Iraqis all over the world who are pro-democracy and who were opposed to both the Saddam Hussein regime AND to the war. We need to convene a meeting of all pro-democracy Iraqi organizations to help devise a thorough strategy for the future of the country.

2. We need to implement a reconstruction program that brings more benefits to the Iraqi people. Iraqis with jobs are less likely to shoot at our soldiers. More than a year ago, $18 billion was allocated for reconstruction, yet only 5 percent of those funds have actually been spent.. We need to get rid of the officials responsible for mismanaging the reconstruction effort and order a reassessment of the whole reconstruction package and implement quick-impact projects. Pro-democracy Iraqis should play a major role. We need to stop paying companies under investigation for fraud or corruption. We need to use more Iraqi contractors and workers, instead of big corporations like Halliburton. We need to work with our allies to forgive Iraq's multibillion dollar debt.

America needs a foreign policy and Homeland Security that is most likely to really protect the whole of American people instead of mainly special interests. We need to adequately fund a real Homeland Security. We need to put the values of democracy and freedom in the forefront - in actual policy and actions, not just words. We need to stop using foreign policy to serve corporate profit-making interests. In Iraq and the world, we need to stop supporting dictators whose main purpose is to gain markets for U.S. corporations and to keep the cost of labor and resources low.

America needs to be strong. I have the strength to make the essential changes in our foreign policy and homeland security necessary for a stronger, safer America.

Red-Stater Joe Franklin writes this rebuttal:

In 2003, Sen. John Kerry stated that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, described him as a ruthless dictator, and essentially said he needed to be removed from power. Now he makes an issue of the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. If he truly believes this and is honest, why doesn't he say, "I was wrong, I was duped," and bring the troops home? He can't. He has changed positions too many times!

The 9/11 Commission found no evidence of a connection between Iraq and September 11th according to Secretary of State Colin Powell. But he acknowledged that in recent years there had been several contacts between Saddam's regime and the terrorists. For years the Iraqi National Coalition, an independent group supporting democracy for Iraq, has said Saddam is connected with the terrorists, supported terrorists' activities, harbored and trained terrorists on assignations, explosives, and hijacking planes in terrorists' camps in Iraq.

Bin Laden is still at large, but hundreds of terrorists have been killed or captured. He will be found. After all, it took seven years to find bomber Eric Rudolph in the hills of North Carolina. Al-Qaeda was never the only group killing Americans, and the "war on terror" did not begin with 9/11. It began before the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

Indications are that the economy is gradually improving, with unemployment being the lowest since 2001. Please note: The wealthy have always sat pretty, and both Kerry-Edwards and Bush-Cheney sit among them.

I have no problems with Sen. Kerry's self-enhanced service on the battlefield. I do have a problem with his collaborating with the enemy after returning home from Vietnam. He met with the North Vietnamese in Paris after his active duty. You can be assured that if one of our service men returning from Iraq flew to Paris and mets with al-Qaeda, he will be facing a court-martial and a long prison sentence. Sen. Kerry made his trip to Paris while in the Naval Reserve, a part of his military record that will never be revealed to the voters. Did he attend drills while in Reserve status?

As for Bush's prior 20 years, everyone knows he was in the oil exploration business, a general partner in a baseball team, and governor of Texas while Sen. Kerry glided through three terms in the Senate without sponsoring any significant legislation. Why would he do more than the minimum as president when his performance as a senator was less than the minimum?

I am not familiar with promoting Iraqi CIA agents. Prime Minister Allawi had CIA connections, but I have never heard him referred to as an agent. He has the support of most pro-democracy groups as well as the majority of the Iraqis. However, he is criticized for his past CIA connections. Give the man a chance!

The United States leads a multinational effort to reconstruct Iraq and to forgive its debt. Is it government bureaucracy or mismanagement that has slowed the spending of the $18 billion for reconstruction?

Halliburton's subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), formerly Brown and Root, has been awarded wartime contracts since World War II. They were award contracts during the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Balkans War. Most of these were awarded by Democratic administrations. The company has been accused of sweetheart deals and faulty accounting for decades. Brown and Root was a big supporter of Lyndon B. Johnson. Halliburton, along with other American companies, traded with Iraq through foreign subsidiaries after the Gulf War. Trading with Iraq resumed during the United Nations oil-for-food program, which, apparently was legitimate.

I have read that Vice President Cheney's statements on trade with Iraq were contradictory. Maybe he flip-flopped! That's one for Bush-Cheney and dozens for Kerry-Edwards!

So what's the Blue Staters' problem with Halliburton? Is it that we now have a Republican administration? Is it that Cheney once served as Halliburton's CEO, or that Halliburton and KBR are among the largest non-union employers in the country? Organizing their employees would be a jackpot for big labor!

America is strong, and will continue to grow in strength. The plague of terrorism will not stop with these debates, this administration or the next administration. Diplomacy will not end terrorism.




Red-Stater Cynthia Sneed writes this rebuttal:

I believe that the differences between those who support President Bush and those who support Sen. Kerry (I deliberately did not say "Republican and Democrats," because there appear to be large numbers of both parties on either side) are so diametrically opposite, the chasm so vast, that the differences are irreconcilable.

Bush haters believe he is a liar; Bush supporters believe he is a leader. Bush haters believe he is a warmonger; Bush supporters believe he is a warrior defending our country.

Bush haters believe that the Iraq war is not part of the global war on terror; Bush supporters believe that the entire Middle East, wherever terrorists are provided safe harbor to plot to kill "American infidels" is the battlefield.

Bush haters believe he is stubborn; Bush supporters believe he is stalwart. Bush haters believe he is a "fear-monger" who is frightening the elderly and little school children for political gain; Bush supporters believe he is a ferocious fighter who will do everything in his power to protect us from the real and imminent threat of terrorism.

Oprah did a show on terrorism on Sept. 23. I was expecting one of the hand-wringing, "Kumbaya," "Why on why do they hate us" shows to boost John Kerry's campaign. I was dumbfounded when she interviewed reporters and people at the Russian orphanage. One reporter told the story of the dehydrated children and one little girl, just seven years old, who ran out of the building - not to safety, but to the water fountain. The terrorists, trained by al-Qaeda (those who want to kill you and yours) gunned her down with a machinegun because she wanted a drink some water.

Another woman told of being made to choose between her two children by the terrorists. She could take one out but leave the other. No doubt she begged to stay herself and let both children go, but no. We are not dealing with Mr. Rogers. These are terrorists, and their purpose is to terrorize.

U.S. armed forces in Iraq found al-Qaeda training videos on how to take over elementary schools and kill children. These videos dated back to the mid-1990s, and they were accompanied by maps of the United States, Britain and Russia. Not in Iraq, not since 9/11, but years before. That is how long these people have been working on these terrorist attacks.

It is well-documented that John Kerry harped and harped on how dangerous Saddam Hussein was when President Clinton was president. He even went as far as to note that the French, Germans, Russian and Chinese were useless in helping us control and remove Saddam Hussein (1997).

Today he has done a complete about face, now Saddam is not/was never a threat, there were no terrorists in Iraq even though the 9/11 Commission Report said there were, the French/German/Russians will "help" us in Iraq although it was the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place.

On Friday, Kerry said that terrorists are pouring into Iraq that he will "find and hunt down" the terrorists to win the "global war on terror" but not Iraq - where he just said they all were. John Kerry today said he would "win the global war on terror" - but apparently Iraq is not on his globe. John Kerry - who has said this Iraq war was a mistake, a quagmire, and that we need to get our American boys out of there but have said the French and Germans will send their boys in to die.

Sen. Kerry, if, as you say, Iraq is a quagmire, a lost cause, the wrong war, not worth losing American lives, then the French, Germans and Russians are not coming to help you. European diplomats have already said time and again they will not now or ever send troops into Iraq. One supposes their hope is that Saddam will be restored to power and the oil-for-loot program can be revived.

George W. Bush he has hunted down and killed more terrorists in the last three years than any American leader has over the last 30. He did it to protect us and because somebody somewhere has to stop the cancer, the plague of people who act as if they are living in the 11th century in the year 2004.

President Bush has for the first time made these people pay a price for their acts. He has sent the message that America, under his leadership, is willing to expend its blood and treasure to punish, destroy and discourage those who would plot and plan against the United States.

I know that the next elementary school or daycare center could be my child's. I know my husband may be on the next airplane used as a missile. I know it could be my mother jumping from the 104th floor of a burning building. The next person kidnapped and beheaded may be me. The 9/11 Commission revealed that there are numerous sleeper cells in America waiting for orders to wreak havoc and kill Americans.

President Bush knows it as well.