Text 2452, 134 rader
Skriven 2004-09-20 20:57:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Bush on Kerry
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,132889,00.html

Bush Blasts Kerry for Iraq Waffling 
Monday, September 20, 2004
 
    

NEW YORK  — President Bush (search) accused his Democratic rival Monday 
of a pattern of waffling and leaving behind a trail of contradictory 
positions on the war in Iraq (search). 

"Today my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind," Bush 
said at a rally in New Hampshire. "He apparently woke up this morning 
and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq, after just 
last month saying he would have voted for force even knowing everything 
we know today."

John Kerry (search), a four-term Massachusetts senator, voted to give 
Bush authority to wage the war; the presidential hopeful said in August 
he would have voted that way even had he known there were no banned 
weapons in Iraq.

"Incredibly, he now believes our national security would be stronger 
with Saddam Hussein (search) in power and not in prison," Bush said. 
"He's saying he prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and 
security of democracy.

"I couldn't disagree more, and not so long ago, so did my opponent," 
Bush added, quoting Kerry as saying recently, "Those who believe we are 
not safer with his capture don't have the judgment to be president or 
the credibility to be elected president."


Bush campaign officials had promised an attack that would accuse the 
Democratic senator of advocating a "retreat and defeat" policy in Iraq.

Earlier in the day, Kerry told supporters during a campaign stop that no 
responsible commander in chief would have invaded Iraq knowing Saddam 
didn't possess weapons of mass destruction and wasn't an imminent threat 
to the United States.

"Yet today, President Bush tells us that he would do everything all over 
again, the same way. How can he possibly be serious?" the candidate said 
during a speech New York University, where he slammed Bush on all things 
Iraq.

He said Monday that Bush's actions could lead to an unending war.

Kerry makes a distinction between his vote, as a senator, to grant Bush 
war-making authority and Bush, as commander in chief, actually taking 
that fateful step. Republicans have accused Kerry of flip-flopping on 
the war and other issues.

Kerry's speech came one day before of Bush's scheduled address to the 
U.N. General Assembly. Bush planned to strike back at Kerry's 
increasingly aggressive criticism on Iraq, aides said.

Bush attends a fund raiser for the Republican National Committee in New 
York City on Monday night.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry's goal of pulling U.S. 
troops out of Iraq in his first term sends "a clear signal of defeat and 
retreat to America's enemies that will make the world a far more 
dangerous place."

Bush had a warm reception in New Hampshire, the only state in New 
England that he carried in 2000 and where he holds a lead over Kerry.

Just six weeks before the presidential election, a new poll of 
Massachusetts voters puts Bush ahead of Kerry in New Hampshire. The 
Mason-Dixon poll for MSNBC and Knight-Ridder had Bush at 49 percent and 
Kerry at 40 percent. The poll of 625 likely voters was conducted Monday 
through Wednesday. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 
percentage points.

A poll in August and two in late July showed Bush and Kerry about even 
or Kerry slightly ahead in New Hampshire.

Kerry: 'We Have Traded a Dictator for a Chaos'

Kerry said Monday of Bush, "Is he really saying to Americans that if we 
had known there were no imminent threat, no weapons of mass destruction, 
no ties to Al Qaeda, the United States should have invaded Iraq? My 
answer is resoundingly no because a commander in chief's first 
responsibility is to make a wise and responsible decision to keep 
America safe."

"Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place 
in hell," Kerry said. "But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to 
war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: 
We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less 
secure."

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., 
said after the Massachusetts senator missed almost 24 open oversight 
hearings on Iraq, in which lawmakers were given chances to offer "timely 
criticism" and to help Bush shape U.S. policy.

"Without offering any alternative plans that our Committee and the 
American people could debate, Senator Kerry has tried to argue that 
President Bush is concealing the truth and the potential that events in 
Iraq will become worse," Lugar's statement said. "In fact, with the 
participation of the administration, we have been publicly airing and 
examining all scenarios, including the worst outcomes."

Kerry offered his own four-point plan starting with pressing other 
nations for help.

— Get more help from other nations.

— Provide better training for Iraqi security forces.

— Provide benefits to the Iraqi people.

— Ensure that democratic elections can be held next year as promised.

"If the president would move in this direction ... we could begin to 
withdraw U.S. forces starting next summer and realistically aim to bring 
all our troops home within the next four years," Kerry said. "This 
policy has been plagued by a lack of planning, an absence of candor, 
arrogance and outright incompetence."

Kerry said Bush's two main rationales — weapons of mass destruction and 
a connection between Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks — have been 
proven false so far by weapons inspectors and the bipartisan commission 
investigating the attacks.

Bush "hitched his wagon to the ideologues who surround him, filtering 
out those who disagreed, including leaders of his own party and the 
uniformed military," Kerry said. "The result is a long litany of 
misjudgments with terrible consequences."

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