GETTING SMART ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY

Congress has appropriated more than $653 billion for the occupation of Iraq, an extraordinary amount of money.  Sadly, these massive expenditures have not made Americans safer but have forced us to sacrifice on education, healthcare, and homeland security here in the United States.

Over 4,100 American soldiers have lost their lives in this senseless occupation, and more than 30,000 have been severely wounded.  An estimated 50,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have also been killed and four million have become refugees, and the feeling of goodwill towards America has been squandered around the world.

We should back up our men and women in uniform with a new approach to national security, one that emphasizes preventing war instead of pre-emptive war. I have proposed a plan called SMART Security, which is a Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism.  It treats war as an absolute last resort, to be pursued only after every peaceful and diplomatic solution has been exhausted.

• SMART is tough on terrorists by using stronger intelligence and multilateral partnerships while respecting human and civil rights.
• SMART attacks the root causes of terrorism by investing in the development of impoverished nations, giving their people the hope and opportunity they need to reject a life of violence and hatred.
• SMART controls the spread of weapons of mass destruction with a renewed commitment to inspections and nonproliferation.
• SMART reduces our dependence on foreign oil by investing in renewable energy sources.

SMART Security defends America by relying on our capacity for global leadership, our compassion for the people of the world, and our commitment to peace and freedom.

Our men and women in uniform deserve to be supported by a smart national security policy. Instead of continuing the long-term occupation of Iraq that is increasingly exacting its toll in lives lost and billions of dollars spent, we need to pursue a SMART Security strategy for the conflicts America faces because such a strategy is the best way to keep our country safe in the in the long run.

(updated Sept. 2008)