Kerry calls for larger role for allies

CHICAGO -- John F. Kerry, in his most detailed remarks yet on the intense fighting in Iraq, declared yesterday that stabilizing the country will require more involvement by Arab and European nations, a diplomatic effort he says the Bush administration has failed to mount because of false pride and ideological rigidity.

During an appearance on the "Imus in the Morning" radio program, Kerry said, "You've got a choice: You can do more of the same, where you have an almost exclusive American occupation and you are guaranteed to spend millions of more dollars and lose more lives. Can you be successful? Yes. Let me be very clear: We could be successful. But at what cost, in money, lives, and reputation?"

He made similar comments at other venues during a series of appearances in Chicago.

"The other option, you pull out altogether," Kerry said. "Unacceptable. You can't leave a vacuum. You can't leave a failed Iraq. You can't have the United States walking away from now-present Al Qaeda and other insurgents and pretend you're going to advance the war on terror."

A third way, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said, is to "get some other people in there so you have a global sense of purpose."

Kerry voted in October 2002 for a congressional resolution authorizing military force in Iraq, but he has repeatedly criticized the diplomatic effort that preceded and followed the invasion.

Kerry, who has come under pressure in recent days to specify how his approach to Iraq would differ from President Bush's, advocated turning over control of Iraq to an international body that would make decisions about governing and rebuilding Iraq. He also called for imploring Arab and European allies to realize they are at risk for terrorism emanating from an unstable Iraq.

"If you have a global sense of purpose, the capacity of an insurgency to take hold becomes much harder," Kerry said. "It's not just focused on the Americans, it's not the `infidels' that they're killing. It's a broader approach. Now, maybe it doesn't work, but I'll tell you this, if it doesn't work, it's because this administration has gone too far down the road the other way and they have locked us into a much more complicated outcome. But it didn't have to be this way."

Later, when asked by a reporter whether Americans might be worried about changing presidents in the middle of an international conflict, Kerry said: "I'm not untested in that kind of leadership role. I think you measure leadership by the lifetime of experience. And I bring more experience in military affairs, foreign policy, and national affairs than George Bush even has today."

Nicolle Devenish, spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said Kerry's comments on Iraq were hurting the US effort in that country.

"Instead of showing the world and the enemies of freedom that America stands firmly behind the effort in Iraq and is committed to victory, John Kerry has made the political calculation to rail against the war on terror at every stop on the campaign trail without offering any credible alternative," Devenish said.

"John Kerry has no plan for the war on terror, just personal political attacks that he launches against the president and our allies who are standing strong against global terror."

The Massachusetts senator is known as a cautious politician, often waiting until the last moment to announce his views on a subject. His 19-year Senate record also includes votes on both sides of some issues, such as his support for the Iraq war resolution but his opposition to the $87 billion spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush and his campaign have seized on such changes of position to brand Kerry a flip-flopper with few political convictions. He also has been branded in the media, including by radio show host Don Imus as the two spoke, as someone who has not offered a clear alternative in Iraq.

But Kerry repeatedly has commented on the spasm of violence in Iraq during a week when he had planned to focus on the economy and job creation. He also has chafed at accusations he has been a critic who has not offered an alternative, pointing reporters -- as soon as he boarded his campaign charter Thursday morning -- to two policy speeches focused on Iraq that he delivered last year at the Brookings Institution in Washington and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

At Brookings, Kerry had called for a United Nations resolution giving the body authority in rebuilding Iraq and drafting a constitution, absorbing the Coalition Provisional Authority, and putting a multinational military force under US command, while the United States accelerates training of Iraqi security forces.

At the Council on Foreign Relations, Kerry had said: "We will continue to have difficulty persuading other countries, particularly those with meaningful military capabilities, to contribute troops and funds for reconstruction unless and until we vest real responsibility in the hands of the United Nations and the international community. I have said before -- and I repeat today -- that the Bush administration should swallow its pride and reverse course."

This week, Kerry also alerted an audience in Wisconsin to those speeches as he said, "Once again, I say we ought to be engaged in a bold, clear, startlingly honest appeal to the world to see the interest. And we should be engaged in the diplomacy that is prepared to share -- with all those other countries that we need to come to the table -- the decision-making and the responsibility. And that is how we will resolve this issue."

A week's worth of images that have included front-page pictures of a Marine carrying a body bag and, yesterday, Marines praying over the body of a comrade, seem to have had an effect on Kerry. Yesterday he harkened back to his days as a Navy commander on a Vietnam riverboat as he expressed empathy for the troops who were seen Thursday climbing dazed and bloodied from a tank that had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. "I know what it's like for these guys, who are going down streets and they suck in their breath, and they don't know where the rocket's coming from, and they're standing guard and they don't know if the station wagon that's driving at them is a bomb or a family," Kerry told Imus. "It's a very difficult situation for our troops.

"That's going on every day, somewhere, and I think the president needs to answer a simple question to Americans, which is: Why is the United States of America, why is the American taxpayer, why is the American soldier, almost single-handedly bearing the cost and risk of what we're doing there, when the whole word has a legitimate stake in the outcome? It represents, in my judgment, an extraordinary failure of strategy, diplomacy, implementation, and we have every right in the world to hold them accountable."

Kerry used his radio interview to take a separate jab at the administration over the joint appearance that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will make before the independent commission investigating the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Asked why Bush and former president Bill Clinton should not just stand up and explain the steps they took to prevent terrorism and why the Sept. 11 attacks were not prevented, Kerry replied: "I don't know why; it's a very legitimate question. And I think an equal question is why President Bush has to testify with Dick Cheney by his side."

White House officials have said that the two jointly attended most terrorism discussions in the White House.

During his visit to Chicago, Kerry brought in an estimated $2 million at a fund-raiser Thursday. Yesterday he addressed a Democratic National Committee breakfast before touring and speaking at a job training center on the city's West Side.

In both locations, Kerry was joined by Barack Obama, who won the Democratic primary for a US Senate seat in Illinois.

After acknowledging Obama at the fund-raiser, Kerry said: "We are so excited about your candidacy, I cannot tell you, and we are so grateful to Illinois for making the choice that you've made. And I am confident that Barack Obama is going to help lead John Kerry into the White House."

Kerry also held a private meeting with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson at the job training center.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.