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11-15-2005, 08:35 AM
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ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday sought to counter Democratic critics of the Iraq war by turning their own past words of warning about Saddam Hussein against them.
"Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war -- but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people," Bush said in a campaign-style speech accusing Democrats of playing politics with the issue and trying to rewrite the past.
He spoke to U.S. troops in an air base hangar in Alaska, a refueling spot for Air Force One carrying him on a week-long Asia trip that Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said would be long on conversations about top priorities but not likely to include any breakthrough agreements on simmering trade issues.
Democrats have been hounding a politically weakened Bush with allegations that he, Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior officials manipulated intelligence in order to hype the threat posed by Saddam to justify the war.
Bush, struggling to rebuild Americans' support for the Iraq war amid rising U.S. casualties, criticized Democrats on the intelligence manipulation charge for a second time, reflecting sensitivity on the issue as he tries to battle back from the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency.
He quoted statements made in 2001 and 2002 by three Senate Democrats, though he did not quote them by name.
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons," Bush quoted West Virginia Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller as saying in an October 2002 speech.
Rockefeller, who now serves as the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was among the 29 Democrats who voted for the war in a key 2002 Senate vote.
SADDAM 'MISLED THE WORLD'
Bush cited as well cite a statement by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, in a December 2001 television interview, as saying, "The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as (Saddam) is in power." Levin voted against the war.
Bush also quoted Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who also voted for the war, as saying in September 2002: "Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the president's approaching this in the right fashion."
"They spoke the truth then, and they're speaking politics now," Bush said to applause, adding that it was Saddam who manipulated evidence and misled the world.
Bush said the Democratic criticism sends "mixed signals to our troops and the enemy. And that's irresponsible."
Democrats responded on Monday by vehemently denying that they saw the same intelligence before the war as Bush, and that there was a consensus in the intelligence community on that information.
They accused the administration of trying to convince the American people there was a link between Saddam and al Qaeda even though the intelligence community rejected that idea.
Bush was on his way to Kyoto, Japan, first stop on a tour that includes visits to South Korea, China and Mongolia.
Hadley, briefing reporters on Air Force One, played down the possibility of any breakthroughs on trade disputes with Japan and China.
On U.S. attempts to persuade Tokyo to lift a ban on U.S. beef imposed over mad cow fears, Hadley said: "This is not going to get worked out before we get there, it's not going to get worked out while we're there. But we hope in a reasonable time afterwards to see this issue worked through and beef returned to the Japanese market."
As for China's swelling trade surplus with the United States, a source of increasing frustration among U.S. lawmakers and exporters, Hadley also tried to minimize prospects of a breakthrough.
Bush wants China to liberalize China's currency system and let the yuan rise in value. "It's going to be an issue during this trip. It's going to be an issue after this trip," Hadley said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051115/ts_nm/bush_iraq_dc;_ylt=AiHLN_EjoknDUK172wkStZ8DW7oF;_yl u=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday sought to counter Democratic critics of the Iraq war by turning their own past words of warning about Saddam Hussein against them.
"Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war -- but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people," Bush said in a campaign-style speech accusing Democrats of playing politics with the issue and trying to rewrite the past.
He spoke to U.S. troops in an air base hangar in Alaska, a refueling spot for Air Force One carrying him on a week-long Asia trip that Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said would be long on conversations about top priorities but not likely to include any breakthrough agreements on simmering trade issues.
Democrats have been hounding a politically weakened Bush with allegations that he, Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior officials manipulated intelligence in order to hype the threat posed by Saddam to justify the war.
Bush, struggling to rebuild Americans' support for the Iraq war amid rising U.S. casualties, criticized Democrats on the intelligence manipulation charge for a second time, reflecting sensitivity on the issue as he tries to battle back from the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency.
He quoted statements made in 2001 and 2002 by three Senate Democrats, though he did not quote them by name.
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons," Bush quoted West Virginia Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller as saying in an October 2002 speech.
Rockefeller, who now serves as the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was among the 29 Democrats who voted for the war in a key 2002 Senate vote.
SADDAM 'MISLED THE WORLD'
Bush cited as well cite a statement by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, in a December 2001 television interview, as saying, "The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as (Saddam) is in power." Levin voted against the war.
Bush also quoted Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who also voted for the war, as saying in September 2002: "Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the president's approaching this in the right fashion."
"They spoke the truth then, and they're speaking politics now," Bush said to applause, adding that it was Saddam who manipulated evidence and misled the world.
Bush said the Democratic criticism sends "mixed signals to our troops and the enemy. And that's irresponsible."
Democrats responded on Monday by vehemently denying that they saw the same intelligence before the war as Bush, and that there was a consensus in the intelligence community on that information.
They accused the administration of trying to convince the American people there was a link between Saddam and al Qaeda even though the intelligence community rejected that idea.
Bush was on his way to Kyoto, Japan, first stop on a tour that includes visits to South Korea, China and Mongolia.
Hadley, briefing reporters on Air Force One, played down the possibility of any breakthroughs on trade disputes with Japan and China.
On U.S. attempts to persuade Tokyo to lift a ban on U.S. beef imposed over mad cow fears, Hadley said: "This is not going to get worked out before we get there, it's not going to get worked out while we're there. But we hope in a reasonable time afterwards to see this issue worked through and beef returned to the Japanese market."
As for China's swelling trade surplus with the United States, a source of increasing frustration among U.S. lawmakers and exporters, Hadley also tried to minimize prospects of a breakthrough.
Bush wants China to liberalize China's currency system and let the yuan rise in value. "It's going to be an issue during this trip. It's going to be an issue after this trip," Hadley said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051115/ts_nm/bush_iraq_dc;_ylt=AiHLN_EjoknDUK172wkStZ8DW7oF;_yl u=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl