John Kerry forum "live blogging"

The live-blogging didn't quite go as planned, due to a complete absence of a wireless network in the auditorium. Nonetheless, I still "live blogged" to a text document, and here's the blow-by-blow. K is John Kerry, and Q1 through Q14 are different questioners from the audience.

3:47 Waiting for Senator Kerry. We have a decent, but not great turnout. The auditorium, which I'm told seats 300, is a bit more than half full. "The program will begin soon."

4:02 John Kerry has just taken the stage.

4:03 Stephanie Perrin, head of the Walnut Hill School, is telling us about Walnut Hill and introducing a student who sang an amazing rendition of the national anthem.

4:07 Karen Schlosberg, chair of the Natick DTC, is introducing John Kerry and acknowledgements to the organizers of the event.

4:10 Kerry receives a standing ovation for a welcome.

4:11 K giving thanks to town and state democratic committees. "It's a tough job, herding cats." Thanks to the Natick DTC for organizing the event.

4:13 "Let's get right into it." 2 days ago he gave a speech at Johns Hopkins and a new organization, the American Security Project. "We need to rethink America's ability to cope with major foreign affairs."

4:14 No coincidence that 7 months after 9/11, most Americans thought Saddam had something to do with it. Cheap sloganeering, culture of fear, "better to fight them there than here". Too simplistic an approach, which threatens legitimacy of our country on almost every other issue. CIA tells us we are creating more terrorists than we are eliminating.

4:16 No Americans should shed blood to allow Iraqi politicians to avoid the tough job of govening, making compromises, and taking responsibility.

4:17 Talking about original timeline bill he sponsored last August. Only 13 or 14 Senators voted for it, but it helped Democratic victory in November.

4:18 Last month's bill, combining timelines with presidential discretion to leave troops behind if the job is going well but is not quite finished.

4:20 Kerry's been to Iraq 5 times, talked with leaders in the area, still thinks we can get things done, but this administration has severely damaged our credibility

4:21 Audience interruption! Hard to hear questioner, but Senator Kerry is allowing him to speak. Seems a little rambling, but asking about number of civilian deaths in Iraq. Kerry: No way to know exactly how many deaths there have been -- 50K? 500K? People disappear in the night, ethnic cleansing makes it hard to judge. But yes, there are tens of thousands, probably over a hundred thousand dead.

4:23 "I'm gonna wrap up, I can see you're eager to get into questions, and I'd like that too." What is going on in the Middle East cannot be ignored by anybody. We need reality-based thinking and to deal with the facts.

4:25 Battle for heart and soul of Islam. As much hatred and division towards governments of the region, not just us. We can't just talk about "them" without recognizing that "they" are 60 competing ideological groups, Al Qaedas and Hamases and others.

4:26 Important to know history of the region, arbitrary divisions after WWI and so many actions committed out of ignorance, and now we have to deal with the mess.

4:27 Division of Islam after death of Muhammed over who should be Caliph.

4:29 We come in, "liberate" Iraq with no plan, take out Hussein, and take out the Ba'athists civil servants. We've injected ourselves into a Sunni-Shi'a struggle with little understanding of the two sides. And as long as we are there, Iraqi politicians will use us as backing and avoid making decisions. It's time to bring our troops home.

4:31 We can't do it in a vacuum, and we need to make this war have been worthwhile for the troops who have fought there. So the issue now is how do you solve the problem? There is no military solution to this problem, only a political solution. But we are not making any heavy political push to solve the problem.

4:34 Kerry met with head of Hamas, who knew his responsibility. He had to disarm Hamas, but had no way to actually do it.

4:36 Defense authorization bill is coming up, and there's a chance to actually enforce the timeline.

4:37 When Kerry came back from Vietnam and protested, there was a presumption that soldiers didn't do that sort of thing. Marching on Washington, was confronted with, "My country, right or wrong!" Kerry says he believes in that: When it's right, keep it right; when it's wrong, make it right.

4:38: Q1: A lot of what Kerry says is very wrong. Telling Iraq how they should vote and what they should do with their own country, how is that freedom for Iraqi? They elected the government we wanted them to elect. Malachi is a figurehead for US interests. Oil law enabling profits for oil companies.

4:39: K: I never mentioned the oil law, I'm not for the oil law. In the Iraqi election, Sunni did not come out for the election, and subsequently regretted it. Iraqis wrote their constitution, but aren't living up to their constitution.

4:41: Q1 (still): Iraqis haven't been free to choose their own destiny. If we were led into Iraq on the basis of lies, we have no right to still be there. And if we were lied to about Iraq, what about 9/11 and if it was staged?

4:42: K: "If you think 9/11 was staged, you are living in an ozone layer I am incapable of tapping into."

4:43: Q2: What about the Kurds, and Turkey? They are the third part of Iraq, and largely ignored in the Shia v. Sunni conflict.

4:44: K: Kurds are largely content with current division. They want independence, but recognize this is not feasible right now. It's a dangerous situation made more dangerous by lack of resolution in the rest of Iraq. Senate faces difficulty in stepping into executive branch role. Can't do anything without 60 votes, and you still need to override veto with 67 votes.

4:47: Key to kurd situation is to enable peace in the region. Need to have a conference of all involved parties, including US, and set the process back on track.

4:48: Q3: HS Sophomore, facing first Presidential election, wants to know which candidate's foreign policy Kerry supports. K: Not much difference between individual Dems, but huge difference between D and R.

4:50: Q4: Reads Kerry quotes from '71 including "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" and poses same question to Kerry. How can Dems still allocate money to war? Etc etc etc. What happened to that John Kerry?

4:51: K: I'm still that John Kerry, and in many ways Iraq is worse than Vietnam. Kerry says he's stood up for what's right. Q4: Why haven't you stood up to Oil law and Democratic leadership? K: Did you read my statement in the Congressional Record? Anywhere? Why don't you read it before you ask me that?

4:54: Q5: Applauds Kerry's American Security Project, and thanks Kerry for his work. K: It's not as simple as saying "get the troops out" and "ditch the oil law". Not that simple. If you turn away from reality, if you turn away from 60% of Saudi Arabia being under 25, if you don't give them opportunities and aid, they may strap bombs on instead of doing good things. We need to isolate radical extremists from Islam as a religion of peace, and not let them isolate us.

4:58: Q6: Former Soviet citizen, now American citizen, member of Massachusetts Russian-speaking American scientists club. Thanks Kerry for his great job. "Be strong. Be smart. Don't give up in your job fighting for peace in this war." We Russians know about war. Iraq war needs to be last war in the world. We need to end the war as fast as we can.

5:02: Q7: Asks Kerry to reconsider his vote on the Flag Desecration Act. K: Every combat veteran in the Senate has voted against it, yet we constantly have vets asking for it, thinking it is necessary. "I've thought about it long and hard, and I hate people -- no, wrong word, I don't like people who think desecrating the flag is necessary. I like to think I fought for people to have the right to be stupid." Kerry does not support changing the First Amendment for this purpose.

5:05: Q8: How can we expect Iraq to rebuild itself if people aren't allowed to go to work, if people are afraid to go to work? K: Safety is a huge issue, and people of the middle class fleeing Iraq is a huge problem. The only way to get peace with security is a negotiated peace settlement, address stakeholders' concerns and their view of the stakes. For example, we need to work out division of oil revenues. "I'm trying to turn thousands of lemons into whatever kind of lemonade we can get out of this situation." "Iraq is the single biggest and worst foreign policy disaster in our history and we have to find some way of turning it around."

5:12: Q9: Son in Iraq. Concerned about structure of deadline which would still leave so many troops behind in Iraq. K: Thanks Q for her courage. K's talked to many families opposed to the war, but still proud of the troops, which is an upturn from reactions to Vietnam. Once we have clarity on Iraq, and have negotiated peace, we will be able to return rest of the troops. We need to come up with a cogent policy.

5:18: Q10: Is the power of the purse the only power Congress has in this situation? K: Power of purse is critical, but we don't necessarily have the votes. We need to pursue diplomatic options as well. Do we want troops blaming Congress for cutting off funds, eliminating needed arms? We need to pursue smart options. Continuing today's policy is not smart. President doesn't see that, but Dems are winning people over.

5:22: Q11: Disturbed by anti-Iraqi and Muslim sentiments at this forum, blaming them for being violent etc. Real question, though, about privatization of oil, and the "oil law". Will Kerry denounce this law? K: We should let Iraqi have profits from their oil. They need to be in charge of their resources. But they are not. Factions are at each others throats, blocking distribution, production, etc. Most wars won are won either by "unconditional victory" or by negotiation. Unconditional total victory is not really likely here, so negotiation must be the key.

5:27: Q12: Iranian immigrant... What is Kerry's view of Iran? K: Iran is extending its influence in the region. Other nations in the region are worried about this and influence of Iranian Shi'ism. China, Russia, Europe are all worried about nuclear Iran. Iran definitely is pursuing this option. 3000 centrifuges in Iran. But Iran is not a monolithic entity. Many Iranians are unhappy about the situation, especially large numbers of younger Iranians. There's a good possibility for change, and we need to stay engaged. Nixon knew we needed to be engaged with China, Reagan engaged with the USSR. This is the same sort of situation, but we have a lack of presidential involvement and leadership. In Iraq, there's no doubt Al-Qaeda is present now, but with engagement and setting Iraqis in charge of their destiny, they will most likely kick AQ out. Same thing with Iran -- great country, smart and capable, but we need to stay engaged with them.

5:32: Q13: There are only two US agencies involved in Iraq -- Army and Marines. We need to leverage State department and replace "coalition of willing" with "coalition of capable".

5:33: Q14: Middle East situation is not simplistic religious ideologic conflict. Maybe they have genuine issues with us and our tactics of supporting unpopular and brutal regimes. K: Moral authority is critical in military and foreign policy. Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo hove been destructive of this. We are not viewed favorably in the Middle East for reasons like this. There is a great question of legitimacy and how we are perceived.

5:37: Closing remarks. Always more questions, wish there was more time. But there's many ways to contact Kerry's office. johnkerry.com, kerry.senate.gov This war is hurting our image in the world, and hurting us. We need to be able to change it. President abused our trust and process in the lead-up to the war. Support the country and support the troops: When we are wrong, make it right, and that's what we have to do.