The Pentagon agrees: Kerry was right about terrorism.

This is what Kerry has talked about in length, for a very long time:

Writes the Pentagon report: “The struggle against violent extremists will not end with a single battle or campaign. Rather, we will defeat them through the patient accumulation of quiet successes and the orchestration of all elements of national and international power. We will succeed by eliminating the ability of extremists to strike globally and catastrophically while also building the capacity and resolve of local governments to defeat them regionally. Victory will include discrediting extremist ideology, creating fissures between and among extremist groups and reducing them to the level of nuisance groups that can be tracked and handled by law enforcement capabilities.“

Now if this doesn’t spark some memories from 2004, I don’t know what will:

“Senator Kerry talked of reducing terrorism to – quote – ‘nuisance‘ – end quote – and compared it to prostitution and illegal gambling,” President Bush said.  “See, I couldn’t disagree more. Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level of nuisance. Our goal is to defeat terror by staying on the offensive, destroying terrorists, and spreading freedom and liberty around the world.”

Not only did the Pentagon report include the word “nuisance” (how NAIVE!), it also included the other catch phrase from 2004, “sensitive”:

Vice President Dick Cheney resonded thusly in Dayton, Ohio: “America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive… A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans and who seek the chemical, nuclear and biological weapons to kill hundreds of thousands more. The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our sensitivity.”

Um, Dick — look what the Defense Secretary says to that:

“Countering the totalitarian ideological message of terrorist groups to help further undermine their potency will also require sensitive, sophisticated and integrated interagency and international efforts”

So, given that track record, I am going to take Kerry’s statement on the resignation of Musharraf in Pakistan very seriously:

“President Musharraf’s decision to step aside is a welcome development for the people of Pakistan. His resignation is the latest reminder of the perils of this Administration’s personality-driven foreign policy that turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s people. President Bush and Vice President Cheney backed a discredited dictator, which has undercut our ability to work with the new government to eliminate the terrorist sanctuary that has reemerged in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Pakistan’s politicians must shift their focus from each other to preventing al Qaeda and Taliban forces from seeking safe havens from which to launch their next attacks. Over the long-term, the best way to fight extremism is for Pakistan’s politicians to use this opportunity to strengthen their democracy and deliver an economic plan that can improve the lives of their people. This ultimately is their fight and their future, but for their sake and ours, America needs to help them succeed.”

Despite the attention on Georgia and Russia in the last couple weeks, everyone should keep their eye on Pakistan.  Take it from the guy who has been right from the beginning in how to fight terrorism.

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