Kerry continues to hammer away at Iraq conflicts

By Matea Gold of The Los Angeles Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Sen. John Kerry drew on the war he knows best Thursday as he pressed his criticism of President Bush's handling of the conflict in Iraq, charging the administration is withholding the truth about the situation there from the American public.

In a scolding, indignant tone, the Democratic presidential candidate lashed out at his rival, recalling the sense of betrayal Americans felt at the end of the Vietnam War.

“I fought in a war when we weren't told the truth, and I know the consequences, and so does America,” Kerry said in brief remarks outside a Columbus firehouse, returning to a theme he has been mentioning less frequently on the campaign trail.

Stressing repeatedly that he wants the United States to be victorious in Iraq, the Massachusetts senator argued that Bush's leadership would not deliver success.

“The president says that things are getting better in Iraq, and we must just stay the same course,” he said. “Well, I disagree, they're not getting better. And we need to change the course to protect our troops and to win.”

“A president's true test of leadership is how he responds when things are going wrong,” Kerry added, standing in front of a fire truck on a warm fall morning. “You need to be prepared to tell the truth, and I think a president who fails to admit his mistakes is a president who proves that he doesn't know how to make the course correct.”

Several hours later, Vice President Dick Cheney sharply criticized Kerry's remarks, saying they undermined efforts to keep the country secure.

“John Kerry is trying to tear down all the good that has been accomplished and his words are destructive to our effort in Iraq and in the global war on terror,” Cheney said.

It was the fourth consecutive day that the debate over the conditions in Iraq dominated the presidential campaign. The latest exchanges came as a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Bush with a slight lead over his challenger, 48 percent to 45 percent in a three-way match-up. Among likely voters, Bush led by a 50 percent to 46 percent margin. Other recent polls have shown the president gaining ground in competitive states.

Kerry said the Bush administration is “in disarray,” noting that the president's remark Wednesday that Iraq is plagued by just a handful of terrorists contradicted U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's previous statements that the country has attracted many terrorists, as well as Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's acknowledgment earlier in the week that terrorists are “pouring” into Iraq.

Kerry also said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has “misled” the country about the number of troops that have been trained by first saying there were 210,000 Iraqi security forces, and then changing his estimate to 95,000. Citing a recent State Department report, Kerry said the number of trained soldiers is actually 5,000.

“It's a disgrace that the Secretary of Defense doesn't tell the truth to the American people, and it's a disgrace that this president doesn't hold anybody in his administration accountable for failure,” he said. “These are not small miscalculations. These are miscalculations that are costing lives, costing America's reputation in the world.”

The Bush campaign disputed Kerry's figures, saying that the 5,000 figure refers only to the number of Iraqi Army soldiers, and does not include the Iraqi National Guard, Intervention Force, Special Ops, Air Force and Coastal Defense forces. Altogether, almost 42,000 Iraqi troops have been trained, the campaign said.

But Kerry insisted that Iraq faces widespread instability that threatens the ability to hold elections in January. He said that he read a “devastating” account from a former deputy director of the Coalition Provisional Authority on Wednesday stating that reconstruction aid was not being distributed in the country and that unemployment was rampant.

“I want democracy to take hold,” he said. “But at the moment, I think most people would tell you that the United States and the Iraqis have retreated from whole areas of Iraq. There are no-go zones in Iraq today. You can't hold an election in a no-go zone.” The senator reiterated his call for Bush to seek more assistance from the international community to stabilize Iraq, mocking his trip this week to the United Nations as insufficient.

Kerry, who is recovering from a cold and nursing a hoarse voice, skipped two events he had planned to attend in Iowa on Thursday, sending his running mate, John Edwards, in his stead. He also delayed a speech he was planning to give in Columbus about terrorism until Friday in Philadelphia.

The Democrat plans to spend the bulk of the next week preparing for the first presidential debate, set for Sept. 30 in Miami.