Posted on 10/27/2004 9:04:36 AM PDT by Michael Goldsberry
LITITZ, United States (AFP) - Breaking his silence on missing Iraqi explosives, US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) called Democratic rival John Kerry (news - web sites)'s attacks on the subject "wild charges" levelled in desperation.
At a campaign rally in this crucial state just six days before the election, Bush said US forces were investigating the fate of the 350 tonnes of high explosives and that Kerry was irresponsibly jumping to conclusions.
"The senator is making wild charges about missing explosives," said Bush. "Think about that: The senator is denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts."
"Unfortunately, that's part of a pattern of saying almost anything to get elected," said the president, whom Kerry has accused of incompetent war planning in the wake of media revelations that the explosives went missing.
"America is now investigating a number of possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved before our troops even arrived at the site," said Bush.
"This investigation is important, and a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not the person you want as your commander in chief," said Bush.
His comments came after a top Iraqi science official said it was "impossible" that the explosives could have been smuggled out of a military site south of Baghdad before the regime fell last year.
The UN nuclear watchdog agency this week said the explosives went missing from a weapons dump some time after Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime was toppled in April 2003 by the US-led invasion.
The president gave a new polish to a well-worn campaign attack based on Kerry's assertion that preemptive US military action ought to be able to pass a "global test" of credibility.
"I want to remind the American people: if Senator Kerry had his way, we would still be taking our global test, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, he would control all those weapons and explosives, and could share them with out terrorist enemies," Bush charged.
Sounds about right. Kerry and the Dems are falling fast.
WOOHOO!!! GO BUSH!
I like Drudge's report a little better:
Bush at rally in Pennsylvania:
“After repeatedly calling Iraq the wrong war, and a diversion, Senator Kerry this week seemed shocked to learn that Iraq is a dangerous place, full of dangerous weapons…”
“If Senator Kerry had his way…Saddam Hussein would still be in power. He would control those all of those weapons and explosives and could share them with his terrorist friends. Now the senator is making wild charges about missing explosives, when his top foreign policy adviser admits, quote, 'We do not know the facts.' Think about that: The senator is denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts…..”
“Our military is now investigating a number of possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved before our troops even arrived at the site. This investigation is important and it's ongoing. And a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief.”
Go Geo, go Geo, go Geo!
Git 'em, Dubya.
"I want to remind the American people: if Senator Kerry had his way, we would still be taking our global test, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, he would control all those weapons and explosives, and could share them with out terrorist enemies," Bush charged.
BURN!
that's gonna leave a mark...
In Texas they call it walking
Satellite photos from the Pentagon showing a long caravan of transports carrying the WMD's to Syria before we even landed would be nice.
Give 'em Hell George!
And when you think they've had enough give 'em a double dose of the same!
9:00 P.M. EDT
SNIP
John Kerry will say and do anything to get elected. Most recently, he's been criticizing the American advance into Iraq in early '03, saying that American forces did not do enough to protect a weapons facility near Baghdad with the result that 380 tons of explosives disappeared. But John Kerry doesn't know if those explosives were even at the weapons facility when our troops arrived in the area of Baghdad. The Senator's foreign policy advisor, Richard Holbrooke, admitted as much just yesterday when he said, twice, and I quote, "I don't know the truth," end quote.
John Kerry, though, is not one to let a shortage of facts bother him. (Laughter.) He rushed out to put up a TV ad saying there was a failure to secure these explosives when he has no idea if they were even there to be secured.
John Kerry will say and do anything except give our troops the backing and the praise they deserve.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: American troops in Iraq have captured and are destroying more than 400,000 tons of weapons and explosives. Let me repeat that -- 400,000 tons. But Senator Kerry doesn't talk about that, perhaps because it might remind people exactly how dangerous Saddam Hussein was, and how right our President was to remove him from power. (Applause.)
John Kerry is playing armchair general, and he's not doing a very good job of it. This shouldn't surprise us given his weak record on national security. He first ran for Congress advocating the idea that we should deploy American troops only under the authority of the United Nations.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
/SNIP
perfect response and perfectly timed. This puts Kerry directly on the defensive.
Bush moves the rook into position and calls "check".
I just heard him on Fox. Excellent!
"Think about that: The senator is denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts.... And a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief."Four more years!!!
It's the IAEA'sa fault the munitions weren't removed years earlier.
Duelfer also said U.N. weapons inspectors recommended in 1995 that the high explosives be destroyed because of their potential use in a nuclear weapons program.The International Atomic Energy Agency instead ordered the explosives stored in sealed bunkers 30 miles south of the Iraqi capital. The last time the IAEA verified that the bunkers were still sealed was in March of last year, about a month before the first U.S. troops moved into the complex as they pushed toward Baghdad.
This is yet another example of W carefully measuring the amount of rope to give to his adversary.
Note that if he'd responded immediately, it would have been "desperation." Now, after the story has been pretty much discredited, Bush uses it to bash F'n where it hurts the most: in his wild-eyed attacks. A little bit of campaign Judo....
Now here's hoping that W comes out with an ad on the topic. It would be devastating.
Keep it George.
Ouch, that's gonna hurt.
Red Meat.
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