Kerry: Bush, Cheney in denial on Iraq chaos

[Fluffybunny]

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado (Reuters) -- Democratic challenger John Kerry ripped into President George W. Bush on Thursday for a pattern of deception on Iraq and said his Republican rival was one of "the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth."

The other, he said, was Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Massachusetts senator accused both of being in denial about chaotic conditions in Iraq and suggested the situation could deteriorate into a bloody civil war like the one that plagued Lebanon in the late 1970's and early 1980's. (Special Report: America Votes 2004, the issues)

On the eve of their second debate, Kerry previewed a tack he plans to take when he and Bush meet on Friday night in St. Louis, accusing the president of emboldening terrorists, leaving the United States more vulnerable and exaggerating the threat from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Citing a CIA report that showed Iraq destroyed its banned weapons supplies months after the first Gulf War in 1991 and its capacity to produce biological, chemical or nuclear arms had eroded by the time Bush ordered the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Kerry assailed the president for twisting facts and for failing to be "straight" with Americans. (Report: No WMD stockpiles in Iraq)

"We remember the pieces of evidence, like aluminum tubes and Niger yellow cake uranium, that were laid out before us," he said. "All designed, all purposefully used to shift the focus ... from the real enemy, al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, to an enemy that they aggrandized and fictionalized."

"All put forward with an urgency requiring immediate action before another attack on the United States," he said.

Kerry described Bush and Cheney as being in "absolute full spin mode" in trying to reconcile the CIA report with their prewar claim that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction that could threaten the United States or fall into the hands of terrorists.

"The president of the United States and the vice president of the United States may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq," he said.

"Americans ... deserve facts that represent reality, not carefully polished arguments and points that are simply calculated to align with a preconceived perception."

Hints at new line

The Democrat, who most Americans believe bested Bush in the first debate of the presidential campaign last week, hinted at a new line of attack for Friday's town hall session in Missouri. He said that Bush's "pattern of deception goes beyond Iraq" and citing as one example the president's failure to fully fund his own education reforms.

But it was on Iraq that Kerry tested out some of his toughest attack lines, even suggesting that Bush might have created another Lebanon.

Vowing to follow the U.S. military's advice on whether more troops might be needed to quell the chaos and insurgency in Iraq, Kerry said he would have to wait until January 20 -- the date of the next presidential inauguration -- before making any decision.

"I don't know what I'm going to find on January 20th the way the president is going," he said. "If the president just does more of the same every day and it continues to deteriorate, I may be handed Lebanon, figuratively speaking. I just don't know, I can't tell you."

Kerry told reporters the CIA report and remarks by the former administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer that the United States had sent too few troops provided "definitive evidence" as to why Bush should not be re-elected.

"Whether it's the situation in Iraq or whether it's the situation here in America, he is not being straight with Americans," Kerry said. "I will never mislead the American people. The president has not met that standard."

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[bathory]

Kerry: Bush, Cheney in denial on Iraq chaos, Ya think?

is in chaos as a whole? surely not?