WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- House Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., Tuesday offered a three-prong approach for the war on terrorism.
"Too often, issues of national security are considered separately," Gephardt said at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. "But ... these issues are profoundly intertwined, and we must approach them from the single perspective of ensuring America's security."
Gephardt said there needed to be a commitment to update and transform the U.S. military and diplomatic engagement with the rest of the world, and improve homeland security.
"We need to be prepared to deliver the most forceful military response to provocation, but also to expand opportunities for peace and prosperity," he said.
Gephardt said the Bush administration needs to strengthen international alliances that will help fight terrorism and to speed up the process of developing a new homeland defense strategy.
Globalization, information technology and the crumbling of the Soviet Union have changed the world, he said. "With the advent of each of these trends, the world has become closer, moved faster and grown more interconnected."
Gephardt said that military and strategic decision-making should not be politicized and that both Republicans and Democrats should come up with a comprehensive plan. The Pentagon, he said, must acquire weapons and technologies that provide better knowledge of the battlefield, and logistics and systems should be updated for improved performance.
"On the diplomatic front," Gephardt said, "a policy of commitment helps us prevent war and promote stability. This is especially true in the area of foreign assistance."
To fulfill an essential part of its foreign policy, he said, the United States should help the rest of the world grow economically, and improve health care, education and human rights, especially for women.
He also said U.S. citizens should become more involved in what he called public diplomacy.
