Edwards' Terrorism Policy Speech At Pace: It's A Group Thing

When I arrived at Pace University this morning, I was a little bummed to find myself at the end of a 250 person line, many students and locals waiting to get in to hear Edwards' major policy speech on global terrorism. In what seemed like divine inspiration, I turned to see Philip Anderson's press badge on a table behind the gates.

After a couple quick text messages to Philip and a little persuasiveness talking to the security guard and the girl behind the press desk, I skipped the line and got myself a nice, close-to-the-stage seat inside the auditorium. A guy named Adam with the campaign also helped out by handing out advanced copies of the speech. So I was all ready to go when John took to the stage.

First off, Kristin Breitweiser introduced the Presidential nominee. In case that name does not ring your bell, she is one of the Jersey Girls, a 9/11 widow who lost her husband in the attacks on that terrible day. She is friends with the Edwards family and believes in them as people who care and want to make a difference. She sees an Edwards presidency as one that will confront terrorism with a plan that is smart, creative and bold and not that is based on fear (as George Bush does so terribly well). Her presence was impressive to me because she is an ordinary citizen that took great initiative when presented with extraordinary circumstances.

Edwards talked about many different sub-topics that could never be condensed into a sound bite, but I did try with my title above. Basically, George Bush failed to act before September 11th even though he had intelligence that showed an attack by Al Qaeda was imminent. When our nation was mourning the tragedy almost six years ago, the world was ready to unite behind us to aid us in the fight against terror. Instead George went into Iraq, and the global goodwill disappeared shortly after.

We all know the history of the last few years, so the question is...what will John Edwards do as President to right the wrongs of the 43rd President and make our country and the world safer?

First of all he wants to create CITO. It stands for the Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization. Far from being a weak bureaucratic shell, it will band nations together to fight terrorism by cooperating against terrorist organizations. Our go-it-alone policies of the past have only made groups like Al Qaeda stronger, a unified effort is what we need to make progress in this 21st century conflict.

Edwards admits this will not be a "panacea" but a first step that echoes the words of President Kennedy when he first began the fight to curb nuclear weapons. In addition to CITO, basic diplomacy is essential to bring the world together so that we all have a stake in making our society safer and reducing the hostile rhetoric that we have become accustomed to with George Bush.

Then he tied the subject into his broader campaign theme of fighting against poverty. Fighting poverty on a global scale is absolutely necessary to curb terrorism, because giving people from poor countries a step up will make a difference with the world's youth and their reasoning for joining such organizations like Al Qaeda. He gets that this is the root of the problem when it comes to terrorism. His leadership on this goes above and beyond the other Democrats' positions who are running for office.

Finally he addressed his other major theme in the campaign, that he alone cannot solve America's problems. Every one of us must do our part to achieve a better world in the present and for the subsequent generations. He told the audience "it is time to be patriotic about something other than war" and to do that by going out and working for NGOs that fight poverty, to talk to their representatives in Congress, to learn Arabic so that we can begin to break down the cultural divides as well as improving our nation's deteriorating intelligence capabilities. He also proposed the creation of the "Marshall Corps" that would resemble the military reserves but would deploy "to serve on reconstruction, stabilization and humanitarian missions."

Overall I thought it was a great speech, the only challenge is to turn those ideas into substantive action. That change from words on paper to actual reality will take a walk down a long road. Yet as Edwards evoked the words of Kennedy, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." Perhaps this could be that step.