truth stretching both sides made during the debate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63944-2004Sep30.html
Few Factual Errors, but Truth Got Stretched at Times
By Glenn Kessler and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page A10
President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry made few major factual errors in last
night's debate, though on occasion they stretched the truth or left out
inconvenient facts -- or may have confused viewers as they spoke in policy
shorthand.
Bush, for instance, hailed the coming presidential election in Afghanistan,
saying that the fact that 10 million people had registered to vote was a
"phenomenal statistic." But Human Rights Watch this week said that figure
was inaccurate because of the multiple registrations of many voters. In a
lengthy report, the respected organization also documented how human rights
abuses are fueling a pervasive atmosphere of repression and fear in many
parts of the country, with voters in those areas having little faith in the
secrecy of the balloting and often facing threats and bribes from militia
factions.
Kerry repeatedly stated that U.S. forces allowed Osama bin Laden to escape
during the battle at Tora Bora in 2001 because the administration, he said,
"outsourced" the task to Afghan militia leaders. This probably overstates
the case -- it is unclear whether bin Laden was at Tora Bora -- but it is
true that the Pentagon relied on Afghan proxy forces in an effort to
minimize the potential loss of U.S. military lives. Kerry said bin Laden was
in Afghanistan, but the intelligence community has always said he was
somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
After the Tora Bora fight, as local Afghan militias began withdrawing,
considering their part of the war over, top Pentagon officials appeared
ready to send hundreds of conventional ground troops into the White
Mountains to press the search for bin Laden and his associates. That plan
was dropped in favor of offers of money, weapons and cold-weather clothing
to sustain Afghan cooperation.
On North Korea, Bush charged that Kerry's proposal to have direct talks with
that country would end the six-nation diplomacy that the administration has
pursued over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Kerry has said he would continue
the six-party talks as well. Bush said direct talks with North Korea would
drive away China, a key player in the negotiations.
But each of the other four countries in the talks has held direct talks with
North Korea during the six-party process -- and China has repeatedly asked
the Bush administration to talk directly with North Korea. Moreover, the
Bush administration has talked directly with North Korean diplomats on the
sidelines of the six-party talks, and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met
with his North Korean counterpart over the summer.
In a fierce debate over nuclear proliferation, Bush asserted: "Libya has
disarmed. The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice." He was
referring to a nuclear smuggling ring based in Pakistan.
But many experts also credit the patient diplomacy started in the Clinton
administration for persuading Libya to cooperate. Moreover, Khan, a national
hero in Pakistan, was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf, and not a
single person involved in his network has been prosecuted anywhere.
Yesterday, in fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency complained that
it had been prevented from interviewing Khan.
Bush said he has increased spending on curbing nuclear proliferation by
"about 35 percent" since he took office. But in his first budget, he
proposed a 13 percent cut -- about $116 million -- and much of the increases
since then have been added by Congress.
Kerry misspoke when he asserted that Bush is spending "hundreds of millions
of dollars to research bunker-busting nuclear weapons." In fact, the budget
for research on that weapon is less that $35 million. The administration has
set aside almost $500 million for future budgets in case the president and
Congress agree to go ahead with the production of such a weapon.
The two men also disputed whether Saddam Hussein would have been stronger if
the United States had not launched an invasion. This is a question that will
be debated by historians, and the answer may never be clear.
Bush said "Saddam Hussein had no intention of disarming." Yet Iraq asserted
in its filing with the United Nations in December 2002 that it had no such
weapons, and none has been found.
The Bush administration invaded Iraq because it believed Hussein was
concealing stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Some post-invasion
reports have argued that Hussein retained the capability to restart his
weapons programs, but many experts consider that doubtful as long as he
remained under U.N. sanctions and inspections.
However, when Kerry said Hussein would have been continually weakened, he
was making a leap of faith that the U.N. Security Council would have been
willing to continue sanctions that were increasingly unpopular with key
nations.
Kerry suggested that the United States has spent $200 billion on Iraq,
largely because it supplied the bulk of the troops. This was an exaggeration
because it combined the amount already spent -- about $120 billion -- with
money that is expected to be spent in the coming year or requested by the
administration.
But Bush also overstated the case when he corrected Kerry by saying that the
senator forgot to mention that Poland supplied forces when the invasion
began. Kerry said there were three countries that did -- Britain, Australia
and the United States -- and Bush said, "actually he forgot Poland."
Poland later supplied troops and commanded a zone in Iraq. But, except for a
few commandos, Polish troops were not part of the original ground invasion.
And though Bush said there are 30 countries in the coalition, he neglected
to say that about a half-dozen have recently withdrawn their troops.
Kerry was correct when he said that the number of U.S. troops killed in
June, July, August and September increased month by month. But he left out
that the highest number killed in any month was 150 in April and that the
total dropped to 88 in May and to 42 in June before it started climbing
again to September's 92.
At another point, Kerry said that Powell "told this president the Pottery
Barn rule: If you break it, you fix it." This anecdote comes from Bob
Woodward's book "Plan of Attack," but Woodward actually reported that Powell
privately talked with aides about the rule that if "you break it, you own
it." He did not say this to the president -- and it turns out Pottery Barn
has no such rule.
As part of his case that Kerry has sent mixed messages, Bush asserted that
"he voted against the $87 billion supplemental to provide equipment for our
troops, and then said he actually did vote for it before he voted against
it."
While Bush meant it as a jab, this was an accurate description of the Senate
process. Kerry supported a different version of the bill, which was opposed
by the administration. At the time, many Republicans were uncomfortable with
the administration's plans and the White House had to threaten a veto
against the congressional version to bring reluctant lawmakers in line. In a
floor statement explaining his vote, Kerry said he favored the $67 billion
for the troops on the ground, but he faulted the administration's $20
billion request for reconstruction
Sandy Clark
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_____
From: Sam Morris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 1:59 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: Presidential debate tonight
I admit Bush looked bad when he couldn't find the
words and it happened a few times. But when he got the
words out he definitely took charge.
He really nailed Kerry on the North Korea issue. Kerry
claims he can get all the nations to help with Iraq
but then wants to bypass the multi-lateral talks with
N Korea and have a one on one? Kerry should have let
it go but wouldn't. It's obvious he has no clue about
how to handle that situation.
Also Bush got Kerry for claiming he can solve the
problems in Iraq while calling Allawi a puppet.
- <http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=17>
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