Bush, Kerry Face Off in First Presidential Debate
War on terror key focus of tightly structured discussion
President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, the Democratic
nominee for president, faced off on September 30 in the first
of three presidential debates. In a highly organized 90-minute
debate at the University of Miami in Coral Cables, Florida,
moderator Jim Lehrer questioned the candidates on a wide
range of foreign affairs issues. The war on terror, especially
the war in Iraq, was the clear focus of the debate, with
almost 70 minutes devoted to the topic.
President Bush and Senator Kerry laid out different plans
on how to address the ongoing war, with Kerry stressing the
need for international alliances. "I believe America
is safest and strongest when we are leading the world and
we are leading strong alliances," Kerry said.
"In Iraq, we saw a threat, and we realized that after
September the 11th, we must take threats seriously, before
they fully materialize," Bush responded. "We're
pursuing a strategy of freedom around the world, because
I understand free nations will reject terror."
Despite clearly drawn distinctions on several topics, the
candidates agreed that nuclear proliferation is the top national
security threat facing the United States. Bush said that
nuclear nonproliferation is the centerpiece of his strategy
to protect the United States from further terrorist attacks
and outlined the administration's "Proliferation Security
Initiative," a program in which over 60 nations work
to stop transborder shipments of information and materials
used to construct weapons of mass destruction. "I agree
with my opponent that the biggest threat facing this country
is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist
network," Bush said. "And we've been effective."
Kerry argued that the president has not done enough to secure
nuclear materials and presented a timetable for securing
existing Russian nuclear materials to prevent them from being
diverted to other countries or used by non-state actors. "We're
going to get the job of containing all of that nuclear material
in Russia done in four years," Kerry said. "And
we're going to build the strongest international network
to prevent nuclear proliferation."
At the end of the debate, each candidate presented a two-minute
closing statement with Senator Kerry outlining the differences
between the two candidates' views on the many issues discussed
in the debate. "Both President Bush and I love this
country very much, " Kerry said. "But we have a
different set of convictions about how we make our country
stronger here at home and respected again in the world."
President Bush used the time to reiterate his record on
the war on terror. "If America shows uncertainty or
weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy," he
said. "By being steadfast and resolute and strong, by
keeping our word, by supporting our troops, we can achieve
the peace we all want."
A full transcript of the debate may be found at http://www.debates.org/pages/debtrans.html.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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