Kerry seeks doubling of US special forces

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- John F. Kerry charged yesterday that the Bush administration had imposed a "back-door draft" with the Army's new policy of extending active duty for thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan whose service was set to end. He also called for doubling the number of elite US special forces, who have been particularly active in those war zones.

Kerry, outlining steps he said were needed to combat terrorism and other "21st century" threats, warned that the United States was "in danger of creating another hollow Army" as a result of President Bush's policies -- invoking a 1970s-era phrase critics used to describe a military that lacked the manpower to fill combat units.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee portrayed his Republican rival as tough-talking but myopic, "obsessed" with pre-Sept. 11 strategies such as expensive missile systems for "fighting classic conventional wars" with other nations.

By contrast, Kerry cast himself as a farsighted leader who would shift billions in Pentagon spending to new troops and innovative technologies aimed at Al Qaeda and other terrorists who claim "the right to execute the innocent."

"They present the central national security challenge of our generation, but they are unlike any other adversary that our nation has ever confronted," Kerry said in a speech at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, comparing the challenges to the post-World War II military transformation under Truman to fight communism.

"They have no president, no capital city, no territory, army, or national identity," he said. "We are not absolutely certain how they are completely organized or how many operatives they have. But we know the destruction that they can inflict."

"The rhetoric of toughness is not enough to make us safe," Kerry continued. "We need tough decisions to strengthen the American military, so that we can find and get the terrorists before they get us."

The new special forces units would be part of a 40,000-troop expansion that Kerry called for last year and would come about through more aggressive recruiting, aides said, although there would be no new financial incentives to help the military fill its ranks. The new troops would not lead to more forces in Iraq or Afghanistan, Kerry said; they would replace troops, reservists, and guardsmen who have been on extended duty there. There are now 49,000 active, reserve, and Guard special-operations forces; Kerry's plan would add another 3,500 to 4,000 active-duty special forces.

Kerry foreign policy adviser Rand Beers said the expansion would cost $5 billion to $8 billion annually and be financed by scaling back the Bush administration's missile defense programs and streamlining some weapons programs. The array of US missile defense initiatives is budgeted at $3.7 billion this year and is estimated to cost $53 billion over the next five years.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld already has authorized adding 30,000 troops, and on Wednesday the Army announced a new policy requiring service members to remain in war zones until their units returned to base, lengthening the active-duty status of thousands of troops. Kerry said about 30,000 troops would be affected, but a Pentagon official said yesterday that the Army's stop-loss policy was not linked to Rumsfeld's plan for new troops.

The Bush campaign yesterday attacked Kerry's national security proposals. Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky speaking on a conference call organized by the Bush team, said he saw a "striking amount of me-tooism" in Kerry's proposals, noting the Pentagon's authorization to add troops.

Casting aside traditional Senate decorum, McConnell added: "Kerry likes to claim the administration doesn't have a plan in Iraq, but he won't supply one of his own. That's the Kerry we've known around here for 20 years."

Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, in perhaps a jab at Kerry's own language, mocked Kerry's ideas as "hollow," a word he used twice. "Kerry's strategy comes down to, 'I wish I was doing it instead of him doing it,' " Mehlman said.

Kerry's call for "the new military for a new time" was aimed as much at the brass and service personnel as at their families. At one point he noted that -- in a sharp contrast from his days as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam -- more than half of the military is now married. Describing the "incredible strain" that military families feel, Kerry noted that more than 800 Missourians are now facing longer-than-expected deployments in Iraq.

About 165,000 guardsmen and reservists are on active duty; 40 percent of US forces in Iraq are from the reserves and Guard.

"Our soldiers are stretched too thin," Kerry said. "The administration's answer has been to put a Band-Aid on the problem. They've effectively used a stop-loss policy as a back-door draft."

Flying to Minneapolis last night for a campaign rally with veterans today, Kerry was asked by reporters about the release of former President Clinton's memoir, "My Life," on June 22. Kerry said he was not concerned that media buzz over the book would overshadow his campaign, joking that he would take a brief vacation if the book drew all the attention.

He noted about Clinton: "I intend to get him to campaign as much as we can. . . . He's determined to be very helpful."

Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.