Kerry Press Release: Campaign Response to Bush in West Virginia

[Skinner]

For Immediate Release
September 10, 2004

Kerry Campaign Response to Bush in West Virginia

Kerry-Edwards spokesman Phil Singer said: "George Bush has been consistently wrong in Iraq. He went to war in a rush, without our allies, without properly equipping the troops and without a plan to win the peace. As a result, American people are paying $200 billion, and our troops are suffering nearly 90% of the casualties. Bush is shortchanging America on everything from jobs to health care-making us weaker here at home. John Kerry would not have done just one thing differently when it comes to Iraq, he would have done almost everything differently."

WRONG: BUSH’S GO-IT-ALONE PLAN FOR WAR AND FAILURE TO BUILD A REAL COALITION

Bush: “If we have to act, we will take every precaution that is possible. We will plan carefully. We will act with the full power of the United States military. We will act with allies at our side and we will prevail.” (Bush remarks, 10/7/02)

- Bush Admits That He Miscalculated The Conditions In Post-War Iraq. George Bush admitted in an interview that “he made a ‘miscalculation of what the conditions would be’ in postwar Iraq.” (New York Times, 8/27/04)

- FACT: U.S. Carrying the Burden In Iraq. There are 161,000 coalition troops in Iraq. 138,000 of those troops are American – nearly 90 percent of the coalition. (Washington Post, 6/20/04; AP, 9/6/04; Brookings Institution, “Iraq Index,” Updated 8/16/04)

- FACT: Bush Losing Coalition Forces In Iraq. Since the beginning of the war, eight countries are planning to or have already withdrawn troops from the coalition in Iraq: Thailand, Norway, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Philippines, Singapore, and Spain. In all, nearly 3,000 troops have pulled out or planning to pull out of Iraq this month. (AP, 8/13/04)

WRONG: Bush’s Efforts to Hype Iraq - Al Qaeda Relationship Dismissed by 9/11 Commission

Bush: “We know that Iraq and the Al Qaida terrorist network share a common enemy: the United States of America. We know that Iraq and Al Qaida have had high-level contacts that go back a decade.” (Bush remarks, 10/7/02)

- FACT: 9-11 Commission Report Said No “Collaborative Operational Relationship” Existed Between Iraq and Al Qaeda. “We have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.” (9-11 Commission Final Report, 7/22/04)

WRONG: Bush Said Saddam Had WMD but he didn’t

Bush: “(Iraq) possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons.” (Bush remarks, 10/7/02)

- FACT: David Kay Said No Stockpiles Of WMDs Existed In Iraq. Weapons Inspector David Kay told the US Senate that “… it is highly unlikely that there were large stockpiles of deployed militarized chemical and biological weapons there… I think there are no large -- were no large stockpiles of WMD...” (Kay Testimony, 1/28/04)

- FACT: David Kay Said Bush Should Give Up “Delusional” Hope That WMD Will Be Found. “I think it’s most important that the president of the United States recognizes that in fact the weapons are not there.” U.S. officials should give up the “delusional hope” that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction so they can move forward with intelligence reform, Kay said. (Reuters, 7/28/04)

WRONG: Bush Said We Must Confront Regimes Building WMD But Has Failed to do so

Bush: “Terror cells and outlaw regimes building weapons of mass destruction are different faces of the same evil. Our security requires that we confront both. And the United States military is capable of confronting both.” (Bush remarks, 10/7/02)

- FACT: North Korean Nuclear Arsenal Has Increased Under Bush. The Bush administration admits that the North Korea may have now have fuel for as many as eight nuclear weapons, yet Assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs James A. Kelly told Congress that “it is clear (the US and North Korea) are still far from agreement.” (Washington Post, 4/28/04; USA Today, 7/16/04)

- FACT: Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program Advances; No Bush Strategy. Iran has now announced its intentions to process raw uranium and restart its nuclear centrifuges and to begin extracting uranium from its central desert in less than two years. Yet the Bush administration “has still not formally signed off on a strategy for Iran since a review of policy was begun in 2001, U.S. officials say.” (Associated Press, 9/1/04, 9/4/04; Washington Post, 7/19/04)

www.johnkerry.com
Paid for by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.

[newyawker99]

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