Summary:
National security
• I will use our National Guard for homeland
security
• I will not support ill-conceived, poorly
managed foreign wars
• I will protect our borders, ports, and vulnerable
facilities
• I will seek vigorous, international opposition
to terrorism
• I will plan now for natural disasters
Full Explanation:
HOMELAND
SECURITY:
National security depends
upon many things, some of which the present Republican
administration has completely failed to address.
Fighting terrorism on foreign soil is only one aspect
of national security, and if poorly planned and
improperly begun, such as Bush’s war in Iraq,
it can actually be counterproductive. Here are some
things required for a comprehensive approach to
our national security.
1. We need
to fund our military adequately. To do
this, we must determine the most effective way to
use our money. Pouring billions into cold-war weaponry
will not do the job in a changing world. On the
other hand, paying our military personnel adequately
will attract more highly qualified people into the
armed services. And making an iron-clad commitment
to providing adequately for them after their service
is a moral obligation we cannot fail to meet.
2. We need to use our National Guard for
homeland problems, the purpose for which
it was created. We do not have to experience any
more Katrinas to convince ourselves that domestic
crises go untended when our National Guard is shipped
overseas.
3. We need to secure our borders.
To do this we must have adequate personnel and up-to-date
technology. We must also secure the cooperation
of our neighbor nations to deal more effectively
with the problem of illegal immigration by sending
illegal aliens back to their countries of origin
or by insisting that they engage in the legal processes
of immigration in order to remain here and benefit
from our system of government.
4. We must not under any circumstances export
the security of our ports or vulnerable facilities
(transportation systems, nuclear and chemical plants,
communication infrastructures) to foreign companies
or foreign powers. Security is an obligation
of our own government and must be dispatched as
such.
5. We must never send our military into
harm’s way on the basis of intelligence which
is faulty or deliberately misrepresented. The
tragedy in Iraq should teach us that lesson for
all time.
6. We need to advance the internationalization
of the war on terrorism by cooperating with our
allies rather than alienating them. It
is in their interests as well as ours to prevent
global terrorism. We must seek and respect their
views if we hope to have their help.
7. We need to engage in the non-military
prevention of terrorism through international cooperation
which supports the dignity and sovereignty of all
peoples and which provides the financial help to
eradicate the poverty that drives the creation of
terrorism generation after generation.
In doing this, we need to be mindful of the historical
forces that created the poverty that contributes
to the humiliation felt by so many nations in which
terrorism is spreading. Ignoring history will only
make the job harder.
8. Finally, we ought to begin planning now
for disasters that we know will befall us.
Earthquakes on the West Coast, hurricanes in the
East and Gulf, droughts, floods, tornados, and even
dangers from space are coming sooner or later. With
foresight we can be more prepared than we have been.
The time to begin is now. The costs of prevention
are many times less than the costs of dealing with
natural disasters after they occur.
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