Libertarians, Take Note: If Only John Kerry Thought Terrorists Were as Dangerous as Drug-Smugglers

The man has no convictions, and he doesn't even have the courage of his non-convictions:

John Kerry's zeal in pursuing insurgents and terrorists was second to none — in 1989, when he chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, and the bad guys were in Latin America. The subcommittee's report excoriated U.S. foreign-policy planners for failing to take the "drug war" seriously. Senator Kerry's letter of transmittal cautioned, "The United States has too often in the past allowed other foreign policy objectives to interfere with the war on drugs."

Today, Senator Kerry acknowledges that nuclear-armed terrorists are America's "single greatest threat" (although he and Senator Edwards are rightly exercised about Afghanistan's revived opium trade). So you have to stop and ask: Why doesn't Senator Kerry show the same enthusiasm for the war on terror that he showed for the war on drugs?

Granted, it wasn't all outrage at drug trafficking that motivated Senator Kerry; politics (are you shocked?) played a part. According to a Boston Globe biography of Kerry, the senator first became interested in investigating narcotics policy because of its connection to U.S. support for Nicaragua's Contras: "[T]he US was embroiled in another anti-communist crusade in a distant land, and Kerry was determined to prevent a repeat of Vietnam."

...

The Kerry Report advocated the State Department exercise tighter control of visas from suspect countries. It also favored giving the president extraordinary powers to sanction trafficking nations, for example by prohibiting aircraft from suspect countries from landing or prohibiting ships that have stopped in their ports from unloading in the U.S. for 60 days. The report even recommended allowing the president to sanction uncooperative drug-producing countries by "denying or limiting non-immigrant visas to nationals of any such nation."

After September 11, Senator Kerry has yet to recommend a similar crackdown on visas or vessels from nations with links to terror. During the September 30 debate, Kerry criticized President Bush for failing to inspect containers entering American ports, but for some reason he never thought to advance the same severe measures for securing our ports from nuclear weapons that he once advocated for stopping drug traffickers.

Read the whole thing.

What's Andrew Sullivan going to do when he finds out John Kerry wants to crack down on his Ecstasy suppliers?

Oh, wait. That's mostly domestically synthesized. Never mind.

posted by Ace at 12:40 PM

| Access Comments