http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-09/the-new-improved-john-kerry/full/The New, Improved John Kerry
by Sandra McElwaine
Back from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the senator is relaxed, confident—and blunt. In an interview with The Daily Beast's Sandra McElwaine, Kerry dishes about everything from Gen. McChrystal’s troop request to the latest gossip about Richard Holbrooke.
snip//
He will not divulge his advice to Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan, calling it “private,” but allows that he is has some concerns about the Afghans’ readiness for self-governance. “We have to be very, very careful and very thoughtful about putting all the legs of the counterinsurgency in place,” Kerry says. “I have total confidence in the ability of our troops to do their job. I do not have confidence, at this point, that we have the governance, development, or civilian legs sufficiently in place.”
His main concern: Troops could accomplish their mission and be left holding the bag when the others fail to show up. He defends President Obama’s caution on the issue: “I don't think his taking this extra time is costing the United States strategic value, I think it's enhancing that value. So I'm all for him being deliberative, thoughtful.”
Kerry remains wary of analogies to Vietnam and his own battlefield experience. “One of the things I've been very careful to try to do is to not allow Vietnam to dominate my analysis, or to be so front-and-center. I don't want to lose track of the lessons, but not all the ones are applicable and not every situation is the same, not every war is the same. The fact is that Afghanistan is not Vietnam, in the whole. Are there some similarities? Sure.”
What?
“People walking around with guns and big vehicles, in another country, with another religion, another language, another culture, another history, in a far-off land. But there are also enormous differences. Afghanistan is much more complicated, and the place from which the greatest attack against the U.S. since Pearl Harbor was launched. The fact is that we knew and understood the threat of al Qaeda that came out of Afghanistan, and the country unanimously decided we’re going to go and stop those guys from doing that to us again. That’s legit.”
Legit, but where’s the win?
“We're not there to do what the Soviets or Alexander the Great did, or the Brits; they know that. The Afghans don’t hate us—yet. We have to be very, very careful about that. They do hate the Taliban. But the problem is you’ve got to change people's lives for the better.” Improved intelligence and law enforcement are crucial to Kerry’s plan. “The military piece is an important component, but you’ve got to have the knowledge.”
He rejects the notion that Democrats will be perceived as weak if they start to withdraw, or if Obama fails to fulfill McChrystal’s request for more boots on the ground. “Categorically, unequivocally, one of the lessons is: Do not put a party label, or insert any party considerations into the issue of war and peace. I think that happened a few years ago, when we were told Dick Cheney was planning to use the war for political purposes, et cetera. If there's any lesson from all of that, it is: Don't, don't. You have to have a strategy of standing up for America’s interests and make decisions based on realities, not political cover.”As his “body man,” Jason, comes in with a note, Kerry nods and unwinds his lanky fame from the chair. Saying goodbye and heading for the door he admits,
“I'm very lucky, you know—chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, at a point in my life where I know who I am, I know what I believe, I know what I care about, and I'm very happy. It would be a tragedy if I sat here and thought this isn't a great opportunity to get things done.”
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