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Bush Continues to Blast Iraqi Intelligence Critics
U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday continued to blast Democrats for their criticism of his decision to go to war with Iraq, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 14). “Some Democrats who voted to authorize the use of force are now rewriting the past,” Bush said. “They're playing politics with this issue and they are sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy. That is irresponsible.” National security adviser Stephen Hadley on Sunday conceded that “we were wrong” about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in prewar Iraq. He said, however, that the administration did not mislead the public or improperly use available intelligence. The president quoted three senior Democrats senators as evidence that Democrats were changing position on Iraq. Bush did not identify the senators, but White House counselor Dan Bartlett later provided their names. Senator Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.): “There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons.” Senator Carl Levin (Mich.): “The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as (Saddam Hussein) is in power.” Senate Minority leader Harry Reid (Nev.): “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.” “The truth is that investigations of the intelligence on Iraq have concluded that only one person manipulated evidence and misled the world — and that person was [former Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein,” Bush said. Twenty-nine Democrats and 48 Republicans in 2002 authorized use of force against Iraq. Democratic votes for the measure included 2004 presidential contender Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) and his running mate, former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.). Kerry, however, has maintained that the president deceived Congress. “The war in Iraq was and remains one of the great acts of misleading and deception in American history,” he said yesterday (Terrence Hunt, Associated Press/Seattle Times, Nov. 15).
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