John Kerry's 'Real Security For America' Speech: "The Bush-Cheney Administration Has Engaged in a Policy of Cut and Run in Iraq"

In a short time John Kerry will step up to the podium at Faneuil Hall in Boston and deliver this speech, below that speaks to the heart of Americans who are fed up with the failed policies and lies and of the Bush administration. And speaking of the lies of the Bush administration....

The news is out about the report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday, that there were no "prewar ties between Saddam Hussein’s government and an operative of Al Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."

The disclosure undercuts continuing assertions by the Bush administration that such ties existed, and that they provided evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The Republican-controlled committee, in a second report, also sharply criticized the administration for its reliance on the Iraqi National Congress during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The conclusions of the Senate Intel report go far beyond their earlier report, released in the summer of 2004, and include criticism not only of CIA and American intelligence agencies but also of the Bush administration. Clearly the report backs up what John Kerry and other Democratic leaders have said for some time.

The Democratic Daily has received an advance copy of John Kerry's 'Real Security' speech. The text is as follows:

'Real Security For America'
John Kerry

The war on terror that was brought home to the Casey family on a sunny autumn morning that suddenly turned into midnight five years ago, also brought home for all of humanity the stark reality that we are in a fateful contest between forces of evil and hate and the defenders of progress and hope.

The outcome will determine whether our children live in freedom or fear. This is a clash between humanity’s best ideals and the darkness of superstition and oppression. And this is not a clash of faiths: the true Islam is a faith to live by, not a call to terrorize and kill.

In this war, the war against terrorism, there is no substitute for victory. I don’t know a single American who needs a politician to remind them that we have to win this fight.

On Monday, we will commemorate our largest loss of civilian life on a single day in American history. As we remember the horror, the unforgettable shock, and the pride in those who rushed to the rescue, it is our duty to take account as a nation of where we have come since that terrible moment and where we must go if we are to keep America safe in these perilous times.

Since the beginning, at critical moments in our nation’s history, Americans have gathered here at Faneuil Hall to find a better way forward. This is where Americans first agreed on our nation’s promise and where they have gathered ever since to help our country keep it.

That is why you and I have convened here four times so far this year – to chart a new course, for a nation that has been misled on global climate change, misled on health care, misled on fundamental constitutional values, and misled into a war that was based on a lie, a war that can and must be brought to a close.

Donald Rumsfeld – the man who should have been fired as Secretary of Defense long ago – Donald Rumsfeld recently gave a low and ugly speech in which he smeared those who dissent from a catastrophic policy, and then spoke of “moral confusion.”

Well, there certainly is a lot of moral confusion around these days.

It is immoral for old men to send young Americans to fight and die in a conflict without a strategy that can work – on a mission that has not weakened terrorism but worsened it.

It is immoral to lie about progress in that war to get through a news cycle or an election.

It is immoral to treat 9/11 as a political pawn – and to continue to excuse the invasion of Iraq by exploiting the 3,000 mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who were lost that day. They were attacked and killed not by Saddam Hussein but by Osama bin Laden.

And it is deeply immoral to compare a majority of Americans who oppose a failing policy and seek a winning one to appeasers of Fascism and Naziism.

The leaders of this administration have shown in recent days that they will say anything, do anything, twist any truth, and endanger our nation’s character as one America in a desperate ploy to survive a mid term election.

But Americans now see through this charade. They know the truth. We have a Katrina foreign policy – a succession of blunders and failures that have betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it.

Every time the administration is down in the polls, every time their political opponents at home appear to gain, they trot out of the fear card, instead of reinforcing in Americans “there is nothing to fear but fear itself,” they have nothing to offer but fear itself.

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