What if John Kerry Wins?

William Matthews writes for Defense News and interviewed John Kerry about the future of the Department of Defense if he were elected president.



Head to Head on Defense from Defense News research

Allies

John Kerry

Says the United States "must launch and lead a new era of alliances. Shredding alliances is not the way to win the war on terror or even to make America safer. We can magnify our power through alliances. We simply can't go it alone."

George W. Bush

Says the Unites States should always see cooperation from allies, but there is a difference between leading a coalition of many nations and submitting to the objections of a few. "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people."

Missile Defense

John Kerry

Would reduce spending on missile defense, arguing it is not a high priority during the global war on terror.

George W. Bush

Vows to develop missile defenses based on the best available technologies, to be deployed at the earliest possible date. Thes defenses will be designed to protect deployed forces abroad, all 50 states and American friends and allies overseas.

Modernization

John Kerry

Wants to modernize the military, concentratiting on capabilities required for urban warfare. Priorities would be non-lethal weapons, such as directed energy, and networks and communications gear.

George W. Bush

Supports transformation that stresses unmanned aerial vehicles, precision munitions and digitized communications that deliver information and intelligence to aircraft, tanks and ground troops. Favors a new generation of nuclear weapons and space-based radar and communications systems.

During the article, Kerry makes the following statements:

--He has to keep raising defense spending because of the war on terror and to fix all the equipment broken in the war so far.

--Delay missle defence and cut back other weapons programs to add two new divisions to the Army; one division of fighting forces and another division of peace keepers (military police, cultural specialists and lawyers).

--Declined to specify what other programs will be cut.

--Wants to "modernize" the military but did not say what that meant.

--Blames the Bush administration for all its failures in the Iraq war saying they did not look at any alternative battle plans and did not have enough troops on the ground.

--Lauds the fact he served in the military, went to chemical and biological warfare school and was on the Narcotics Terrorism committee.

--Will repair all those "broken alliances" and reach out to foreign leaders like Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah (who Kerry said has been to his home).

So what does this tell us? It tells us that John Kerry still doesn't get it. He talks about funding the Defense Department because of this burdensome war on terror--but if we were not fighting he would be cutting programs left and right.

Also, doesn't firmly grasp the danger of ballistic missile technology. He claims that missile defense is a waste of money and wants to put more boots on the ground. I agree with the more boots on the ground but what a waste it would be if these two new divisions were wiped out in a missile strike from Iran.