John Edwards' Terrifying Counterterrorism Strategy

In a speech given this week (Sept. 7th) at Pace University in New York, former Senator John Edwards (D - North Carolina) laid out his counterism policy ideas in a speech entitled "A New Strategy Against Terrorism." Read the entire speech here.

Senator Edwards ideas are both mystifying and terrifying. Here is the meat of the plan :

Instead of Cold War institutions designed to win traditional wars and protect traditional borders, we need new institutions designed to share intelligence, cooperate across borders, and take out small, hostile groups. ... As president, I will launch a comprehensive new counterterrorism policy that will be defined by two principles—strength and cooperation. The centerpiece of this policy will be a new multilateral organization called the Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization (CITO). Every nation has an interest in shutting down terrorism. CITO will create connections between a wide range of nations on terrorism and intelligence, including countries on all continents, including Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. New connections between previously separate nations will be forged, creating new possibilities.
CITO will allow members to voluntarily share financial, police, customs and immigration intelligence. Together, nations will be able to track the way terrorists travel, communicate, recruit, train, and finance their operations. And they will be able to take action, through international teams of intelligence and national security professionals who will launch targeted missions to root out and shut down terrorist cells.

And thus, it seems that Senator Edwards is advocating a new international police force that will have the prerogative to violate national sovereignty at its own whim. It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, doesn't it? I wonder where are the principles that our nation was founded under? Principles like checks and balances, a government properly constituted and constitutionally limited, responsibility to the people, and on and on and on....

But, the kindly Senator from the Tar Heel state is not done yet. Read this:

There is no more urgent task than preventing terrorists from acquiring a nuclear weapon or another weapon of mass destruction. And we will all be better off when the world is free of nuclear weapons. Diplomacy is key to progress against nuclear weapons. The recent agreement with North Korea to shut down their nuclear programs in exchange for the release of frozen assets is long overdue, but encouraging. It is telling that the few successes of the Bush Administration come from the diplomacy it has derided.
As president, I will create a Global Nuclear Compact to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would support peaceful nuclear programs, improve security for existing stocks of nuclear materials, and ensure more frequent verification that materials are not being diverted and facilities are not being misused. And I will lead an international effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Again unbelievable. Strengthen the NNPT? The Senator who sees two America's apparently cannot see the reality of the modern world. Korea has continually flaunted the NNPT and has violated its agreements whenever it needs economic assistance. The success Senator Edwards sees in Korea is the success of bribery and payola, not diplomacy. Iran is another country that continually flaunts the NNPT and the UN's IAEA. The so-called big three EU powers have failed to negotiate a diplomatic deal with Iran, even with the assistance and backing of both the U.S. and Russia. Re-writing treaties and discussing the issue in committee is not going to solve the problem, it is the equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

Ready? Here is the payoff pitch:

And during my first year in office, I will establish a "Marshall Corps," patterned after the military reserves, that will include at least 10,000 civilian experts. Its members will be deployed abroad to serve on reconstruction, stabilization, and humanitarian missions.
Rethinking our approach to terrorism also means rethinking our approach country by country, cell by cell. And in each place where terrorism has taken root, there is a lot more we can do.
We must begin with one of the greatest generators of terrorism in the world today: Iraq.

So let me get this straight, we want to pull out 130,000+ troops from Iraq on the grounds it is failed and unconnected to terror... then send out TEN THOUSAND civilians to ???? deliver payola? Come on, Senator... this is ludicrous.

The Senator then lays out the tough talk:

As president, I will condition future American aid on progress by Pakistan, including strengthening the reach of police forces and working more effectively with tribal leaders and their members to ensure their acceptance of the government. But I want to be clear about one thing: if we have actionable intelligence about imminent terrorist activity and the Pakistan government refuses to act, we will.
And Saudi Arabia is a country we have given too much in return for too little. We must require the Saudis to do more to stop the flow of terrorists to Iraq. As president, I will condition future arms packages on Saudi Arabia's actions against terrorists.

But Senator, what happened to CITO?????