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Kerry Challenges (President) Bush on Terror Policies
AP on Yahoo ^ | 9/1/04 | Nedra Pickler - AP

Posted on 09/01/2004 10:23:05 AM PDT by NormsRevenge

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In a sharply worded challenge to President Bush (news - web sites), Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) said Wednesday "extremism has gained momentum" as a result of administration missteps in Iraq (news - web sites), but said the war on terror is a winnable one with the right policies.

"When it comes to Iraq, it's not that I would have done one thing differently, I would have done almost everything differently" than the president, the presidential candidate said in a speech to the national convention of the American Legion.

Kerry spoke dismissively of a statement Bush made Monday — then rescinded on Tuesday — that the war on terror might not be winnable.

"I absolutely disagree," he said. "With the right policies, this is a war we can win, this is a war we must win, and this is a war we will win." Kerry said. "... In the end, the terrorists will lose and we will win because the future does not belong to fear, it belongs to freedom."

Kerry, a veteran who won five medals for service in the Vietnam War, saluted his audience as he stepped to the same podium where Bush spoke on Tuesday. He saluted again as he wrapped up his speech.

He accused the administration of failing to keep faith with the nation's 36 million veterans by underfunding VA programs that leave thousands of former servicemen and women without adequate, timely health care and reduced retirement and disability payments.

"The job will be done when the government stops asking veterans for increased co-payments, enrollment fees and other charges to shift the burden of care to more veterans and drive more than a million veterans out of the system," he said.

But the heart of the speech was a strong attack on Bush's policies in Iraq, delivered at a time when Republicans were midway through a national convention designed largely to stress the president's credentials as an effective commander in chief in the war on terror.

Kerry catalogued what he said was a long list of administration shortcomings on Iraq — failing to heed the advice of senior generals on the number of troops needed for postwar operations, failing to secure the country's borders, failing to share responsibility with NATO (news - web sites) or the United Nations (news - web sites), shortchanging the training and equipping of the Iraqi police and more.

As a result, he said, "today's terrorists have secured havens in Iraq that were not there before. And we have been forced to reach accommodation with those who have repeatedly attacked our troops.

"Violence has spread in Iraq. Iran has expanded its influence, and extremism has gained momentum," Kerry said.

As a Massachusetts senator, Kerry voted in 2002 to give Bush the authority to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), and said recently that he would still do so in hindsight, even knowing that no weapons of mass destruction have been found.

But Kerry said, "I would never have diverted resources so quickly from Afghanistan (news - web sites)," where the Taliban has been forced from power but Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and other members of al-Qaida remain free.

"I wouldn't have ignored my senior military advisers. I would have made sure that every soldier put in harm's way had the equipment and body armor they needed. I would have built a strong, broad coalition of our allies around the world.

"And if there's one thing I learned from my service, I would never have gone to war without a plan to win the peace," he said.

Kerry's remarks marked his first extensive foray into the controversy that Bush triggered earlier this week. In a television interview aired Monday, the Republican said he wasn't certain the war on terror was winnable. The following day — before the same American Legion members whom Kerry addressed — Bush said it was.

Kerry spoke as the Democratic Party decided to air a new 30-second ad in battleground states, a commercial designed to stress the same points the Massachusetts senator covered. It accuses Bush of "a failure in leadership." "Mounting casualties, costing $200 billion and counting," the ad says. "Now they call it a 'catastrophic success.' They say they 'miscalculated.' And now they say the war on terror is unwinnable."

The visit to the American Legion gathering was Kerry's first public political campaigning since Saturday, and marked an unusual decision to actively campaign while the opposition party was in the midst of its convention.

Kerry aides announced on Tuesday that the campaign will begin buying $45 million worth of commercial time in 20 states through Election Day. Aides described the investment — which amounts to about half of Kerry's overall budget for the fall campaign — as a down payment on their advertising strategy.

___

On the Net:

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bush; challenges; kerry; pissant; policies; terror
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To: ottothedog

Gosh it is really a good thing that FDR was president on December 8, 1941 instead of John Fraud Kerry. Kerry wouldn't have taken the country to war--why Roosevelt couldn't possibly have had a plan to win the peace.


21 posted on 09/01/2004 11:17:23 AM PDT by RightWingConspirator (Glad that Ted the Boorish Drunk, Hitlery the Witch and John Fonda Kerry are not my senators.)
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To: ottothedog

I think is is time to make another gift to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.


22 posted on 09/01/2004 11:27:33 AM PDT by RightWingConspirator (Glad that Ted the Boorish Drunk, Hitlery the Witch and John Fonda/Fraud Kerry are not my senators.)
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To: NormsRevenge
Kerry spoke as the Democratic Party decided to air a new 30-second ad in battleground states, a commercial designed to stress the same points the Massachusetts senator covered.

And here's the matching buttons the Kerry campaign will be handing out in those same states, to go along with the commercials...


23 posted on 09/01/2004 11:28:30 AM PDT by Alex Murphy (Psalm 73)
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Aside from the crap that fills this speech, giving it at all shows lack of class. Historically candidates have kept quiet during each other's conventions.


24 posted on 09/01/2004 11:42:54 AM PDT by D-fendr
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To: NormsRevenge

He has zero credibility on this issue. He was already smacked down by Giulani, McCain and Ahnold. By the time Cheney and Zell finish with him tonight, he'll be needing those purple heart bandaids.


25 posted on 09/01/2004 11:48:35 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
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To: NormsRevenge

JUNIOR, the kerry butt kisser who votes within 6 points of pelosi...LIBERAL gun grabber deluxe


26 posted on 09/01/2004 12:25:49 PM PDT by GailA ( hanoi john, I'm for the death penalty for terrorist, before I impose a moratorium on it.)
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To: RightWingConspirator

I am swinging by the local B&N to see if they have a copy of Unfit. Ha, they probably have it hidden in the gender studies section.


27 posted on 09/01/2004 12:44:01 PM PDT by ottothedog
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To: dawn53

"The Dems are having a fit that Bush is setting the tone of the argument. Kerry is saying the war is winnable, when they want him to denounce the war."

Does anyone get the feeling that Bush's initial statement was made to goad the Kerry campaign into this reaction? Bush is holding four aces and Kerry is drawing for a queen high hand.


28 posted on 09/01/2004 12:55:11 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Control the information given to society and you control society.)
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