Kerry Blasts Bush for 'Colossal Failures' in Iraq
by Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK - Democrat John Kerry turned up his criticism of President Bush's leadership in Iraq on Monday, accusing him of "colossal failures of judgment" that have turned the country into a haven for terrorists and made America more vulnerable.
The Democratic presidential candidate argued in a speech at New York University that the U.S.-led invasion had weakened national security.
"The president's policy in Iraq precipitated the very problem he said he was trying to prevent," Kerry said. "Iraq is becoming a sanctuary for a new generation of terrorists who someday could hit the United States."
Against a backdrop of rising casualties, fears of civil war and questions about whether elections can be held in Iraq in January as scheduled, Kerry has tried to make the conflict a key barometer of Bush's record in office.
"The president misled, miscalculated, and mismanaged every aspect of this undertaking," Kerry said, accusing Bush of making "catastrophic decisions" and surrounding himself with ideologues who provide "stubborn incompetence."
"The president now admits to miscalculations in Iraq," Kerry said. "His were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment -- and judgment is what we look for in a president."
"George Bush has no strategy for Iraq. I do, and I have all along," Kerry said.
CALLS FOR SUMMIT
To win international support for the war, Kerry proposed that Bush convene a summit meeting of world leaders in New York this week for the General Assembly of the United Nations. Bush addresses the United Nations on Tuesday.
Kerry said he would offer other nations who could provide troops with specific roles for training Iraqi security forces and securing its borders and then let them bid on reconstruction contracts instead of locking them out of the process.
He also said the United States must recruit training assistance for Iraqi forces from NATO allies and wage a reconstruction plan that uses Iraqi contractors and workers rather than big U.S. corporations like Halliburton, which formerly was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney and has won billion dollar government contracts to rebuild Iraq.
To guarantee elections next year in Iraq, the United States should recruit troops from allies for a U.N. protection force and train Iraqis to manage polling places, Kerry said
"If we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight," he said.
While Kerry has said he would begin to bring a large number of the nearly 140,000 U.S. troops home in the first six months of his administration and be better able than Bush to rally international support, the Massachusetts senator has struggled to draw clear contrasts with the president over Iraq.
Republicans have made much of the fact that he voted to give Bush authority to use force against Saddam Hussein yet criticized the war and voted against its funding.
Kerry says while he voted to give the president authority for the war he did not support his handling of the conflict.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry offers a policy of "defeat and retreat" and his proposals were "more contradiction and confusion from a candidate who is twisting in the wind."
He also contended that Kerry's proposals already were contained in plans that Bush has made public to end the conflict in Iraq.
Published on Monday, September 20, 2004 by Reuters
© 2004 Reuters Ltd
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