Edwards Announces ‘Hostages for Peace’ Plan
Presidential candidate and former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) has outlined what he is calling “a breathtakingly innovative and refreshing new national security strategy.” The strategy would create a 10,000-person civilian peace corps, members of which would be sent to weak and unstable countries where they would serve as “hostages for peace.”
Edwards contrasted his plan with President Bush’s “bumper sticker slogan” war on terror approach. “Under my plan, brave Americans who are dedicated to world peace would be sent to ‘trouble spots,’” Edwards said. “The presence of these unarmed American hostages would reassure our adversaries that they would not be attacked by U.S. forces. At the same time, our adversaries would know that should any harm come to these hostages they would face the full wrath of the American tort law.”
Edwards said the idea sprang from his personal experience as a personal-injury lawyer. “It has been my experience that there is no word scarier to wrongdoers than the word ‘lawsuit.’ When the most successful trial lawyer of our era is president, terrorists will know I will make them pay dearly for their wrongful actions.”
Citing his previously demonstrated ability to communicate with the deceased, Edwards warned that terrorists could not hope to escape liability by killing witnesses.
Dr. Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri, reputed second-in-command to Osama bin Laden, was quoted as saying, “We are quaking in our boots over the prospect of Senator Edwards becoming the American president and implementing his plan.”
Edwards said al-Qaeda’s quick and fearful response shows he is on the right track and serves as a sharp rebuttal to critics who have cast him as “lily-livered” and weak on national security.
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