BUSH-CHENEY AD FACT CHECK: "Peace and Security" and "Facts"
Instead of taking real steps to protect America, the Bush campaign is using the politics of fear to cover up President Bush’s catastrophic mistakes in Iraq. They don’t want people to know that President Bush has no plan for Iraq, or that his failures there have made it harder to fight the war on terror. John Kerry will clean up the mess in Iraq and make sure America regains its focus on the real enemy: al Qaeda.
THE FACTS:
AD TITLE: “Peace and Security”
DATE: 9/28/04
TYPE: 30sec TV
PAID FOR BY: Bush-Cheney ’04
Bush’s Conduct of the War on Terror Has not Made Us Safer
ANNOUNCER: History’s lesson. Strength builds peace. Weakness invites those who would do us harm.
Gravest Error was Allowing bin Laden to Escape: Administration and military officials admit that failing to go after a cornered bin Laden was the “gravest error” in the war on terror. [Washington Post, 4/17/02]
Bush Diverted Critical Resources in the Hunt for bin Laden to Iraq: Up to half of the intelligence and special forces hunting for bin Laden were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. [KnightRidder/Tribune News Service, 9/5/03]
Bush Shifted $700 Million From Afghanistan to Iraq: In summer 2002, Bush shifted $700 million from supplemental funding for Afghanistan to “preparatory tasks” in the Persian Gulf region aimed at accommodating a massive U.S. troop deployment. [Washington Post, 4/18/04]
Global Terrorism is Increasing: Terrorist attacks increased from 2002 to 2003, and since 9/11 the number of terrorist incidents around the world has increased to the highest level in 20 years. [“2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism (amended),” U.S. Department of State]
Thousands of Al Qaeda Militants are Operating Globally: There are an estimated 18,000 militants operating in 60 countries who have been trained by al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has cooperative relationships with at least 20 extremist groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. [CRS, 5/23/03; BBC, 5/25/04; 9/11 Commission Report, 7/22/04]
Al Qaeda Regrouping and Strengthening: While the president has claimed that much of al Qaeda’s leadership has been killed or captured, new evidence suggests that the organization is regenerating and bringing in new blood. [New York Times, 8/10/04]
Bin Laden and Al Qaeda Still At Large and Plotting Against America: Senior administration officials admit that 3 years after 9/11, bin Laden and his chief lieutenants are directing al Qaeda to launch an attack in America this year. And Major General Eric Olson, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Forces in Afghanistan, admits that the U.S. military has no idea where bin Laden or his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are. [New York Times, 7/9/04; AP, 9/11/04]
Members of the President's Own Party Criticized Failure to Plan. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN): "Clearly, the administration's planning for the post-conflict phase in Iraq was inadequate." Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): "We weren't prepared for an occupation. We made a tremendous amount of mistakes. We did essentially go after this in a unilateral way." [Lugar Op-ed, Washington Post, 5/22/03, emphasis added; CNN, "Inside Politics," 7/1/04, emphasis added]
ANNOUNCER: Unfortunately, after the first World Trade Center attack, John Kerry and congressional liberals tried to slash six billion dollars from intelligence budgets.
BUSH HAS INTELLIGENCE PROBLEMS OF HIS OWN
Even After 9/11, Administration Cut Counterterrorism Funds. “In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows. The document, dated Oct. 12, 2001, shows that the FBI requested $1.5 billion in additional funds to enhance its counterterrorism efforts with the creation of 2,024 positions. But the White House Office of Management and Budget cut that request to $531 million. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, working within the White House limits, cut the FBI's request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half, cut a cyber-security request by three quarters and eliminated entirely a request for "collaborative capabilities." [Washington Post, 3/22/04]
CIA Middle East Expert: "Nobody Asked” Whether U.S. Military Action in Iraq Would Exacerbate Anti-Americanism in the Arab World. "A few hours after George W. Bush dismissed a pessimistic CIA report on Iraq as 'just guessing,' the analyst who identified himself as its author told a private dinner last week of secret, unheeded warnings years ago about going to war in Iraq. * Relying on a multi-paged, single-spaced memorandum, [Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia] said he and his colleagues concluded early in the Bush administration that military intervention in Iraq would intensify anti-American hostility throughout Islam. * When Pillar was asked why this was not made clear to the president and other higher authorities, his answer was that nobody asked -- not even Tenet." [Robert Novak column, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/27/04]
Newly-Disclosed Pre-War NIE Warned of "Deeply Divided Iraqi Society Prone To Violent Internal Conflict." "The same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said Monday. The estimate came in two classified reports prepared for President Bush in January 2003 by the National Intelligence Council, an independent group that advises the director of central intelligence. The assessments predicted that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict. One of the reports also warned of a possible insurgency against the new Iraqi government or American-led forces, saying that rogue elements from Saddam Hussein's government could work with existing terrorist groups or act independently to wage guerrilla warfare, the officials said. The assessments also said a war would increase sympathy across the Islamic world for some terrorist objectives, at least in the short run, the officials said." [New York Times, 9/28/04]
2001 State Department Terrorism Report Left Out Bin Laden. “The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing terrorism.’” [CNN, 4/30/01]
Principals in Bush Administration Didn’t Even Meet on Al Qaeda Until Sept. 4th. [Commissioner] ROEMER: Were there principal meetings on al Qaeda and terrorism before September the 4th?
RUMSFELD: Well, there were certainly principals meetings where it was discussed. Whether it was the sole topic or not, you have those records and you would know. I left out...
ROEMER: Our records say no, that the first principals meeting on terrorism...
RUMSFELD: Just solely on that topic?
ROEMER: ... until September 4th.” [testimony 3/23/04]
THE FACTS ON KERRY’S INTELLIGENCE FUNDING PROPOSALS:
Kerry Strongly Supports Increased Intelligence Funding – Including $250 Billion in the Previous 8 Years – A 50% Increase Since 1996 – John Kerry, a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has strongly supported recent increases in Intelligence funding, and, in the wake of 9/11, has supported the bipartisan call for an even larger increase in intelligence funding. According to a report issued by the Center for Defense Information entitled “Intelligence Funding and the War on Terror” John Kerry has supported approximately $250 billion in Intelligence funding over the past eight years alone. The report concludes that Kerry has supported a 50% increase in intelligence funding since 1996. Recently, Kerry stressed the need for greater intelligence in order to protect the country from terrorism: "The best single defense we have today, the most important weapon in the war against terrorism, is intelligence, good intelligence. We're way behind the curve in terms of human intelligence-gathering capacity as well as mutual legal-assistance efforts. You've got to know who they are, where they are what their plans are and hit them before they hit you. That's intelligence." [Senate Intelligence Authorization Funding voice votes 9/25/02, 12/13/01, 12/6/00, 11/19/1999, 10/8/98 & 9/25/96; 1997, Senate Roll Call vote # 109; Jewish News Bulletin of Northern California, 4/5/02]
BUSH ATTACK IGNORES BIPARTISANSHIP OF PLAN
In 1994, Bush and Ford National Security Advisor Scowcroft says intelligence was "way overblown."
Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush, recently described the present intelligence community as "way overblown." With the Cold War over, Scowcroft said, "we need a new kind of intelligence, a different kind of intelligence that is less directed at technical collection, where we are good" and goes "back to human intelligence, where we don't do as well."A former deputy director of the CIA, looking back on the past few years, said he and his colleagues "just individually made cutbacks in their own activities without someone stepping back and trying to put together an overall approach to the new demands.” [Pincus, The Washington Post 6/13/94]
Bush Campaign Co-Chair Mark Hatfield Voted With Kerry On This Issue: “Congressman Greg Walden, who is serving his 3rd term representing the 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives, will serve as Co-Chair and former Governor Vic Atiyeh and Senator Mark Hatfield will serve as Honorary Co-Chairman.” Mark Hatfield voted with Kerry in 1994. [www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2072; Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39]
Bush and Cheney “proud to share the ticket” with Senator who voted with Kerry: Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley voted with Kerry on the 1994 deficit reduction plan, but that did not stop Dick Cheney from telling an Iowa crowd: “The President and I rely on Chuck to get things done, but he also is great because he remembers where he comes from, and he keeps touch with the folks back home. And when he's up for reelection next year, the President and I are proud to be on the same ticket with Chuck Grassley.” [Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39; Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa, 10/3/2003].
Bush’s Former CIA Director Says Kerry Would Not Have Gutted Intelligence
SEN. MARK DAYTON (D), MINNESOTA: Hypothetically, would a 1 percent, say, reduction in your budget for each of five years -- quote, unquote -- "gut" your agency and its intelligence-gathering capabilities?
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Let me say that, in the mid-'90s it wouldn't have been helpful.
DAYTON: Would it have gut, would it have gut, in that vernacular?
TENET: No $300 million cut is going to gut your intelligence capability. [Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 3/9/2004]]
CNN Truth Squad looking for savings was a “bipartisan project”DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the surface, the president's charge is simple, that Senator Kerry once tried to slash the budget for U.S. intelligence.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
He's for good intelligence, yet he was willing to get the intelligence services. And that is no way to lead a nation in a time of war.
ENSOR: But the reality is more complex. True, back in '95, Senator Kerry did propose to cut the intelligence budget by $300 million a year for five years. Out of a classified intelligence budget believed to have been around $29 billion, that's a roughly 1 percent cut. … But here's some context. In 1995, the supersecret National Reconnaissance Office had just shocked Congress by building a very opulent headquarters for $300 million, using money it had secretly tucked away over the years. Congress soon learned that the NRO had at least $900 million more hidden in secret accounts in reserve for future cost overruns on their spy satellites.
JAMES BAMFORD, AUTHOR, "BODY OF SECRETS":
The reason for proposing these bills was because they thought that the NRO was squirreling money away in like a little piggy bank and then refusing to tell Congress that they had this piggy bank. So instead of giving the NRO money the next year, they just said, take the money out of your piggy bank and use that.
ENSOR (on camera): And, in fact, Republican Senator Arlen Specter co-sponsored a bill which became law cutting $900 million from intelligence in just one year. Back then, looking for savings at the end of the Cold War and reforming the NRO were bipartisan projects. [CNN 3/10/2004]
ANNOUNCER: And tried to cut or eliminate over 40 weapons now fighting the War on Terror.
Kerry is a Strong Supporter of America’s Military; Has Supported More Than $4.4 Trillion in Defense Spending & Voted for “Largest Increase in Defense Spending Since the Early 1980’s. He has support 16 of the 19 defense authorization bills since elected to the Senate. John Kerry is a strong supporter of the U.S. Armed Services and has consistently worked to ensure the military has the best equipment and training possible. In 2002, John Kerry voted for a large increase in the defense budget. This increase provided more than $355 billion for the Defense Department for 2003, an increase of $21 billion over 2002. This measure includes $71.5 billion for procurement programs such as $4 billion for the Air Force's F-22 fighter jets, $3.5 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter and $279.3 million for an E-8C Joint Stars (JSTARS) aircraft. Kerry’s vote also funded a 4.1% pay increase for military personnel, $160 million for the B-1 Bomber Defense System Upgrade, $1.5 billion for a new attack submarine, more than $630 million for Army and Navy variants of the Blackhawk helicopter, $3.2 billion for additional C-17 transports, $900 million for R&D of the Comanche helicopter and more than $800 million for Trident Submarine conversion. The current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner (R-VA) stated: “The defense spending increase for FY03 is the largest increase in defense spending since the early 1980's-reflecting the importance of defending the homeland and winning the global war against terrorism” [2002, Senate Roll Call Vote # 239; Websites of U.S. Senators Warner, Daschle, Dodd accessed 7/25/03]
Cheney Launched Massive Post Cold War Military Cuts“I’ve always liked to remind everybody at the outset that we are already embarked upon a massive reduction in U.S. military capability, a 25-percent cut in force structure. We've got the lowest active force today that we've had since before Korea. I've eliminated 70,000 civilian jobs in the last 18 months out of the Pentagon. I've closed or terminated 81 programs. We're shutting down 300 military bases worldwide. It's a massive reduction already underway.” [ABC, “This Week,” 9/29/91]
ANNOUNCER: And refused to support our troops in combat with the latest weapons and body armor.
Military Leaders: George Bush Sent Troops To Iraq Without Proper Protection.
· “In reference to armored vests, there was a shortage. … This is a long-term problem that should have been fixed, however, well before the Iraq war started.” [Brigadier General David Grange (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added]
· “I visited one of these units in December that was getting ready to deploy. That was December, they were deploying in January, and they were short basic equipment: radios, vests, armored Humvees, et cetera. We're better than that as a nation, and we're better than that as a military.” [General George A. Joulwan (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added]
· “Everybody had flack jackets and some body armor, but not the new body armor. They showed us the schedule, and said it was going to be done. They were short at that time, I believe, around 1,400 up-armored Humvees that were coming into the country … it does leave you wondering why couldn't we have done this before the war, and we simply didn't.” [General Don Sheppherd (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added]
· Could not “answer for the record why we started this war with protective vests that were in short supply.” [Gen. John Abizaid, House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, in Washington Post, 10/4/03, emphasis added]
Bush Still Slow To Address Troops’ Need For Body Armor. Though Bush promised to use the $87 billion to “acquire new equipment, such as armored Humvees and communications gear,” he was slow to deliver on that pledge. The Bush Administration first promised all the troops they would have body armor at the end of November. They extended and missed deadlines for December, January, and February, until the Army Secretary told Congress in March 2004 that there were finally sufficient stocks of body armor to equip all soldiers by the end of the month. [Bush Remarks at Iraq Supplemental Bill Signing, 11/6/03; House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, 9/24/03; UPI, 12/3/03; Hartford Courant, 1/11/04; House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 2/12/04; Senate Armed Services Committee hearing]
Soldiers Lacked Armored Vehicles, Still Buying Their Own Equipment as Late as This Year. In late March 2004, the AP reported, "Soldiers headed for Iraq are still buying their own body armor - and in many cases, their families are buying it for them - despite assurances from the military that the gear will be in hand before they're in harm's way. The Portland Press Herald wrote that “In early March, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee about the shortage of body armor and fortified Humvees for troops serving in Iraq. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said after a visit to Iraq in mid-June that U.S. forces still need better armored equipment. Of the 15,000 Humvees in Iraq, about 1,500 to 2,000 are armored, according to the Army.” [Associated Press, 3/26/04; Portland Press Herald, 7/2/04]
White House Threatened to Veto $87 Billion: “The White House threatened Tuesday to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq. After declining to threaten a veto last week before the Senate voted to lend up to $10 billion to Iraq, the White House surprised many people on Capitol Hill with its warning…Last week, without using the word "veto," Mr. Bush called on a series of wavering lawmakers and made it clear that he would not appreciate a vote for a loan. The statement on Tuesday, after eight Republican senators defied him last week and helped form a majority in favor of a $10 billion loan, was the strongest threat to date. "If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders.” [Firestone, New York Times, 10/22/03]
Nearly All Reconstruction Funds Are Unspent, Bush Administration Seeks To Shift Funds To Security. In an indication of the Bush Administration’s failure to plan for the increasing violence in post-war Iraq, the Bush Administration asked Congress to shift $3.4 from the reconstruction to the security of Iraq. The shift of funds “is a de facto recognition that [the occupation authority’s] ambitious plans to restructure Iraq’s entire economy have failed,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a security analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to U.S. officials, only $1.1 billion of the $18 billion reconstruction package authorized by Congress has been spent – and half of that was for security costs. [Washington Post, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/30/04; U.S. News & World Report, 9/20/04]
According to President Bush, The War on Terror Cannot Be Won. Asked 'Can we win [the war on terror]?' Bush said, 'I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.' ['The Today Show,' 8/30/04]
AD TITLE: "Facts"
DATE: 9/28/04
TYPE: Radio
PAID FOR BY: Bush-Cheney ’04
President Bush: I’m George W. Bush and I approve this message.
Voice Over: PAID FOR BY BUSH-CHENEY ’04, INC. AND THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Voice Over: What does it take to lead America in the War on Terror? Steadiness, a commitment to make decisions based on what’s right, not political expediency.
Bush’s Conduct of the War on Terror Has not Made Us Safer
Gravest Error was Allowing bin Laden to Escape: Administration and military officials admit that failing to go after a cornered bin Laden was the “gravest error” in the war on terror. [Washington Post, 4/17/02]
Bush Diverted Critical Resources in the Hunt for bin Laden to Iraq: Up to half of the intelligence and special forces hunting for bin Laden were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. [KnightRidder/Tribune News Service, 9/5/03]
Bush Shifted $700 Million From Afghanistan to Iraq: In summer 2002, Bush shifted $700 million from supplemental funding for Afghanistan to “preparatory tasks” in the Persian Gulf region aimed at accommodating a massive U.S. troop deployment. [Washington Post, 4/18/04]
Global Terrorism is Increasing: Terrorist attacks increased from 2002 to 2003, and since 9/11 the number of terrorist incidents around the world has increased to the highest level in 20 years. [“2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism (amended),” U.S. Department of State]
Thousands of Al Qaeda Militants are Operating Globally: There are an estimated 18,000 militants operating in 60 countries who have been trained by al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has cooperative relationships with at least 20 extremist groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. [CRS, 5/23/03; BBC, 5/25/04; 9/11 Commission Report, 7/22/04]
Al Qaeda Regrouping and Strengthening: While the president has claimed that much of al Qaeda’s leadership has been killed or captured, new evidence suggests that the organization is regenerating and bringing in new blood. [New York Times, 8/10/04]
Bin Laden and Al Qaeda Still At Large and Plotting Against America: Senior administration officials admit that 3 years after 9/11, bin Laden and his chief lieutenants are directing al Qaeda to launch an attack in America this year. And Major General Eric Olson, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Forces in Afghanistan, admits that the U.S. military has no idea where bin Laden or his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are. [New York Times, 7/9/04; AP, 9/11/04]
John Kerry and his liberal allies in Congress want us to believe they’re strong on national defense. But the facts speak otherwise.
FACT: Just one year after the first World Trade Center attack, Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to cut our intelligence budgets by 6 billion dollars.
BUSH HAS INTELLIGENCE PROBLEMS OF HIS OWN
Even After 9/11, Administration Cut Counterterrorism Funds. “In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows. The document, dated Oct. 12, 2001, shows that the FBI requested $1.5 billion in additional funds to enhance its counterterrorism efforts with the creation of 2,024 positions. But the White House Office of Management and Budget cut that request to $531 million. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, working within the White House limits, cut the FBI's request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half, cut a cyber-security request by three quarters and eliminated entirely a request for "collaborative capabilities." [Washington Post, 3/22/04]
Bush Went Golfing Day After Getting Report titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” “As dawn broke over the rolling hills of central Texas, an 18-car motorcade roared past fields of grazing black Angus cattle, carrying George W. Bush and his presidential retinue from his ranch near Crawford to a morning round of golf. The day was Aug. 7, 2001, and the sun, glowing orange as it crested the dark treeline, was already hot. Bush, sporting a maroon-and-gold Polo shirt, was upbeat as he arrived at the Ridgewood Country Club, and he teased reporters about the weather. "I know a lot of you wish you were in the East Coast, lounging on the beaches, suckin' in the salt air," he said. He, by contrast, welcomed a chance to work and play in the 100-degree Texas heat. ‘I find that to be a good part of keeping me a balanced person,’ he said. If Bush was rattled by a daily intelligence briefing he had received the day before, titled ‘Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US,’ he didn't show it. He spread his arms wide and told reporters, ‘I'm enjoying myself.’” [Newhouse News Service, 4/19/04]
2001 State Department Terrorism Report Left Out Bin Laden. “The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing terrorism.’” [CNN, 4/30/01]
Principals in Bush Administration Didn’t Even Meet on Al Qaeda Until Sept. 4th. [Commissioner] ROEMER: Were there principal meetings on al Qaeda and terrorism before September the 4th?
RUMSFELD: Well, there were certainly principals meetings where it was discussed. Whether it was the sole topic or not, you have those records and you would know. I left out...
ROEMER: Our records say no, that the first principals meeting on terrorism...
RUMSFELD: Just solely on that topic?
ROEMER: ... until September 4th.” [Commission Testimony 3/23/04]
THE FACTS ON KERRY’S INTELLIGENCE FUNDING PROPOSALS:
Kerry Strongly Supports Increased Intelligence Funding – Including $250 Billion in the Previous 8 Years – A 50% Increase Since 1996 – John Kerry, a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has strongly supported recent increases in Intelligence funding, and, in the wake of 9/11, has supported the bipartisan call for an even larger increase in intelligence funding. According to a report issued by the Center for Defense Information entitled “Intelligence Funding and the War on Terror” John Kerry has supported approximately $250 billion in Intelligence funding over the past eight years alone. The report concludes that Kerry has supported a 50% increase in intelligence funding since 1996. Recently, Kerry stressed the need for greater intelligence in order to protect the country from terrorism: "The best single defense we have today, the most important weapon in the war against terrorism, is intelligence, good intelligence. We're way behind the curve in terms of human intelligence-gathering capacity as well as mutual legal-assistance efforts. You've got to know who they are, where they are what their plans are and hit them before they hit you. That's intelligence." [Senate Intelligence Authorization Funding voice votes 9/25/02, 12/13/01, 12/6/00, 11/19/1999, 10/8/98 & 9/25/96; 1997, Senate Roll Call vote # 109; Jewish News Bulletin of Northern California, 4/5/02]
BUSH ATTACK IGNORES BIPARTISANSHIP
In 1994, Bush and Ford National Security Advisor Scowcroft says intelligence was "way overblown."
Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush, recently described the present intelligence community as "way overblown." With the Cold War over, Scowcroft said, "we need a new kind of intelligence, a different kind of intelligence that is less directed at technical collection, where we are good" and goes "back to human intelligence, where we don't do as well."A former deputy director of the CIA, looking back on the past few years, said he and his colleagues "just individually made cutbacks in their own activities without someone stepping back and trying to put together an overall approach to the new demands.” [Pincus, The Washington Post 6/13/94]
Bush Campaign Co-Chair Mark Hatfield Voted With Kerry On This Issue: “Congressman Greg Walden, who is serving his 3rd term representing the 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives, will serve as Co-Chair and former Governor Vic Atiyeh and Senator Mark Hatfield will serve as Honorary Co-Chairman.” Mark Hatfield voted with Kerry in 1994. [www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2072; Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39]
Bush and Cheney “proud to share the ticket” with Senator who voted with Kerry: Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley voted with Kerry on the 1994 deficit reduction plan, but that did not stop Dick Cheney from telling an Iowa crowd: “The President and I rely on Chuck to get things done, but he also is great because he remembers where he comes from, and he keeps touch with the folks back home. And when he's up for reelection next year, the President and I are proud to be on the same ticket with Chuck Grassley.” [Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39; Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa, 10/3/2003].
Bush’s Former CIA Director Says Kerry Would Not Have Gutted Intelligence
SEN. MARK DAYTON (D), MINNESOTA: Hypothetically, would a 1 percent, say, reduction in your budget for each of five years -- quote, unquote -- "gut" your agency and its intelligence-gathering capabilities?
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Let me say that, in the mid-'90s it wouldn't have been helpful.
DAYTON: Would it have gut, would it have gut, in that vernacular?
TENET: No $300 million cut is going to gut your intelligence capability. [Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 3/9/2004]]
CNN Truth Squad: Looking for savings was a “bipartisan project”
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the surface, the president's charge is simple, that Senator Kerry once tried to slash the budget for U.S. intelligence.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's for good intelligence, yet he was willing to get the intelligence services. And that is no way to lead a nation in a time of war.
ENSOR: But the reality is more complex. True, back in '95, Senator Kerry did propose to cut the intelligence budget by $300 million a year for five years. Out of a classified intelligence budget believed to have been around $29 billion, that's a roughly 1 percent cut. … But here's some context. In 1995, the supersecret National Reconnaissance Office had just shocked Congress by building a very opulent headquarters for $300 million, using money it had secretly tucked away over the years. Congress soon learned that the NRO had at least $900 million more hidden in secret accounts in reserve for future cost overruns on their spy satellites.
JAMES BAMFORD, AUTHOR, "BODY OF SECRETS": The reason for proposing these bills was because they thought that the NRO was squirreling money away in like a little piggy bank and then refusing to tell Congress that they had this piggy bank. So instead of giving the NRO money the next year, they just said, take the money out of your piggy bank and use that.
ENSOR (on camera): And, in fact, Republican Senator Arlen Specter co-sponsored a bill which became law cutting $900 million from intelligence in just one year. Back then, looking for savings at the end of the Cold War and reforming the NRO were bipartisan projects. [CNN 3/10/2004]
FACT: Over the past 20 years, they have fought to cancel or reduce 40 key weapons now being used by our troops in combat to protect them and America in the War on Terror.
Kerry is a Strong Supporter of America’s Military; Has Supported More Than $4.4 Trillion in Defense Spending & Voted for “Largest Increase in Defense Spending Since the Early 1980’s. He has support 16 of the 19 defense authorization bills since elected to the Senate. John Kerry is a strong supporter of the U.S. Armed Services and has consistently worked to ensure the military has the best equipment and training possible. In 2002, John Kerry voted for a large increase in the defense budget. This increase provided more than $355 billion for the Defense Department for 2003, an increase of $21 billion over 2002. This measure includes $71.5 billion for procurement programs such as $4 billion for the Air Force's F-22 fighter jets, $3.5 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter and $279.3 million for an E-8C Joint Stars (JSTARS) aircraft. Kerry’s vote also funded a 4.1% pay increase for military personnel, $160 million for the B-1 Bomber Defense System Upgrade, $1.5 billion for a new attack submarine, more than $630 million for Army and Navy variants of the Blackhawk helicopter, $3.2 billion for additional C-17 transports, $900 million for R&D of the Comanche helicopter and more than $800 million for Trident Submarine conversion. The current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner (R-VA) stated: “The defense spending increase for FY03 is the largest increase in defense spending since the early 1980's-reflecting the importance of defending the homeland and winning the global war against terrorism” [2002, Senate Roll Call Vote # 239; Websites of U.S. Senators Warner, Daschle, Dodd accessed 7/25/03]
Cheney Launched Massive Post Cold War Military Cuts
“I’ve always liked to remind everybody at the outset that we are already embarked upon a massive reduction in U.S. military capability, a 25-percent cut in force structure. We've got the lowest active force today that we've had since before Korea. I've eliminated 70,000 civilian jobs in the last 18 months out of the Pentagon. I've closed or terminated 81 programs. We're shutting down 300 military bases worldwide. It's a massive reduction already underway.” [ABC, “This Week,” 9/29/91]
FACT: After voting to authorize the use of force in Iraq, they voted against funding our troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John Kerry Voted to Fund Iraq’s Reconstruction Through Shared Sacrifice – Not a Blank Check for a Failed Policy. After witnessing the way in which the president went to war – without our allies, without properly equipping the troops, without a plan to win the peace – John Kerry supported a responsible plan to pay for George Bush’s $87 billion Iraq reconstruction plan by rescinding the tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. But the Bush administration refused. “The best way to support our troops and take the target off their backs is with a real strategy to win the peace in Iraq - not by throwing $87 billion at George Bush's failed policies,” Kerry said. “I am voting ‘no’ on the Iraq resolution to hold the President accountable and force him finally to develop a real plan that secures the safety of our troops and stabilizes Iraq.” [SA 1796, Kerry original cosponsor 10/1/03; Vote #373, 10/2/03; Vote #400, 10/17/03; Kerry statement, Congressional Record, 10/17/03]
White House Threatened to Veto $87 Billion if Congress Made the Funds a Loan. George Bush repeatedly says on the campaign trail that “There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat.” But “The White House threatened … to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq. … ‘If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill,’ Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders.” [Bush remarks, 9/13/04; New York Times, 10/22/03]
REALITY: Bush Still Slow To Address Troops’ Need For Body Armor. Though Bush promised to use the $87 billion to “acquire new equipment, such as armored Humvees and communications gear,” he was slow to deliver on that pledge. The Bush Administration first promised all the troops they would have body armor at the end of November. They extended and missed deadlines for December, January, and February, until the Army Secretary told Congress in March 2004 that there were finally sufficient stocks of body armor to equip all soldiers by the end of the month. [Bush Remarks at Iraq Supplemental Bill Signing, 11/6/03; House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, 9/24/03; UPI, 12/3/03; Hartford Courant, 1/11/04; House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 2/12/04; Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, 3/2/04]
Nearly All Reconstruction Funds Are Unspent, Bush Administration Seeks To Shift Funds To Security. In an indication of the Bush Administration’s failure to plan for the increasing violence in post-war Iraq, the Bush Administration asked Congress to shift $3.4 from the reconstruction to the security of Iraq. The shift of funds “is a de facto recognition that [the occupation authority’s] ambitious plans to restructure Iraq’s entire economy have failed,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a security analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to U.S. officials, only $1.1 billion of the $18 billion reconstruction package authorized by Congress has been spent – and half of that was for security costs. [Washington Post, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/30/04; U.S. News & World Report, 9/20/04]
How can John Kerry and his liberal allies protect us when they voted against what America needs to fight the War on Terror?
According to President Bush, The War on Terror Cannot Be Won. Asked 'Can we win [the war on terror]?' Bush said, 'I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.' ['The Today Show,' 8/30/04]
FACT: GEORGE BUSH WENT TO WAR WITHOUT A PLAN TO WIN THE PEACE.
Bush Rushed To War With No Plan To Win The Peace. Bush told the country that the administration would "plan carefully" for a war in Iraq. Yet in August 2003, the Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared a secret report assessing the post-war planning for Iraq. The report blamed "setbacks in Iraq on a flawed and rushed war-planning process." It also said "planners were not given enough time" to plan for reconstruction. A New York Times report found that, "A yearlong State Department study predicted many of the problems that have plagued the American-led occupation of Iraq." The study was produced by experts on Iraq from various fields, yet "several officials said that many of the findings in the $5 million study were ignored by Pentagon officials" until after the war. [Bush Remarks, 10/7/02; Washington Times, 9/3/03, emphasis added; New York Times, 10/19/03]
Military Generals Criticize Bush's Failures In Iraq War. "The troops are paying the price for arrogant mismanagement and poor planning at the civilian policy level," said retired Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrilll 'Tony' McPeak. General Anthony Zinni said, "There has been poor operational planning and execution on the ground." "I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure," retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, a former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East. Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who spent much of the year in western Iraq, said he believes that at the tactical level at which fighting occurs. [Boston Globe, 7/1/04; CBS, "60 Minutes," 5/23/04; LA Times, 5/23/04; Washington Post, 5/9/04]
Members of the President's Own Party Criticized Failure to Plan. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN): "Clearly, the administration's planning for the post-conflict phase in Iraq was inadequate." Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): "We weren't prepared for an occupation. We made a tremendous amount of mistakes. We did essentially go after this in a unilateral way." [Lugar Op-ed, Washington Post, 5/22/03, emphasis added; CNN, "Inside Politics," 7/1/04, emphasis added]
...AT GREAT COST TO OUR TROOPS AND RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS
· At Least 1,034 U.S. Casualties in Iraq Since the Beginning of the War. There have been at least 1,034 American casualties in Iraq since the beginning of the war. American troops have borne 90 percent of the total number of casualties. [Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index," Updated 9/22/04]
· More Than 100 Hostages Taken Since April. "More than 100 foreign hostages have been seized since April; most have been released but around 30 have been killed, according to Reuters." [New York Times, 9/24/04]
· More Than 30 Hostages Executed Since April, Including More than Nine Beheadings. "Since April, around 30 hostages have been executed by their captors in Iraq. At least nine are known to have been beheaded." [Reuters, 9/22/04]
· Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi: "Terrorists are Still Pouring In." GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "But more than 300 Iraqis died this week. There are 50 attacks every single day on US forces." IYAD ALLAWI: "No, this is an international war that being fought on Iraqi territory. Terrorists, foreign terrorists are still pouring in, and they're trying to inflict damage on Iraq to undermine Iraq and to undermine the process, democratic process in Iraq, and, indeed, this is their last stand. So they are putting a very severe fight on Iraq." [ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, 9/19/04]
Instead of taking real steps to protect America, the Bush campaign is using the politics of fear to cover up President Bush’s catastrophic mistakes in Iraq. They don’t want people to know that President Bush has no plan for Iraq, or that his failures there have made it harder to fight the war on terror. John Kerry will clean up the mess in Iraq and make sure America regains its focus on the real enemy: al Qaeda.
THE FACTS:
AD TITLE: “Peace and Security”
DATE: 9/28/04
TYPE: 30sec TV
PAID FOR BY: Bush-Cheney ’04
Bush’s Conduct of the War on Terror Has not Made Us Safer
ANNOUNCER: History’s lesson. Strength builds peace. Weakness invites those who would do us harm.
Gravest Error was Allowing bin Laden to Escape: Administration and military officials admit that failing to go after a cornered bin Laden was the “gravest error” in the war on terror. [Washington Post, 4/17/02]
Bush Diverted Critical Resources in the Hunt for bin Laden to Iraq: Up to half of the intelligence and special forces hunting for bin Laden were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. [KnightRidder/Tribune News Service, 9/5/03]
Bush Shifted $700 Million From Afghanistan to Iraq: In summer 2002, Bush shifted $700 million from supplemental funding for Afghanistan to “preparatory tasks” in the Persian Gulf region aimed at accommodating a massive U.S. troop deployment. [Washington Post, 4/18/04]
Global Terrorism is Increasing: Terrorist attacks increased from 2002 to 2003, and since 9/11 the number of terrorist incidents around the world has increased to the highest level in 20 years. [“2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism (amended),” U.S. Department of State]
Thousands of Al Qaeda Militants are Operating Globally: There are an estimated 18,000 militants operating in 60 countries who have been trained by al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has cooperative relationships with at least 20 extremist groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. [CRS, 5/23/03; BBC, 5/25/04; 9/11 Commission Report, 7/22/04]
Al Qaeda Regrouping and Strengthening: While the president has claimed that much of al Qaeda’s leadership has been killed or captured, new evidence suggests that the organization is regenerating and bringing in new blood. [New York Times, 8/10/04]
Bin Laden and Al Qaeda Still At Large and Plotting Against America: Senior administration officials admit that 3 years after 9/11, bin Laden and his chief lieutenants are directing al Qaeda to launch an attack in America this year. And Major General Eric Olson, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Forces in Afghanistan, admits that the U.S. military has no idea where bin Laden or his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are. [New York Times, 7/9/04; AP, 9/11/04]
Members of the President's Own Party Criticized Failure to Plan. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN): "Clearly, the administration's planning for the post-conflict phase in Iraq was inadequate." Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): "We weren't prepared for an occupation. We made a tremendous amount of mistakes. We did essentially go after this in a unilateral way." [Lugar Op-ed, Washington Post, 5/22/03, emphasis added; CNN, "Inside Politics," 7/1/04, emphasis added]
ANNOUNCER: Unfortunately, after the first World Trade Center attack, John Kerry and congressional liberals tried to slash six billion dollars from intelligence budgets.
BUSH HAS INTELLIGENCE PROBLEMS OF HIS OWN
Even After 9/11, Administration Cut Counterterrorism Funds. “In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows. The document, dated Oct. 12, 2001, shows that the FBI requested $1.5 billion in additional funds to enhance its counterterrorism efforts with the creation of 2,024 positions. But the White House Office of Management and Budget cut that request to $531 million. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, working within the White House limits, cut the FBI's request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half, cut a cyber-security request by three quarters and eliminated entirely a request for "collaborative capabilities." [Washington Post, 3/22/04]
CIA Middle East Expert: "Nobody Asked” Whether U.S. Military Action in Iraq Would Exacerbate Anti-Americanism in the Arab World. "A few hours after George W. Bush dismissed a pessimistic CIA report on Iraq as 'just guessing,' the analyst who identified himself as its author told a private dinner last week of secret, unheeded warnings years ago about going to war in Iraq. * Relying on a multi-paged, single-spaced memorandum, [Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia] said he and his colleagues concluded early in the Bush administration that military intervention in Iraq would intensify anti-American hostility throughout Islam. * When Pillar was asked why this was not made clear to the president and other higher authorities, his answer was that nobody asked -- not even Tenet." [Robert Novak column, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/27/04]
Newly-Disclosed Pre-War NIE Warned of "Deeply Divided Iraqi Society Prone To Violent Internal Conflict." "The same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said Monday. The estimate came in two classified reports prepared for President Bush in January 2003 by the National Intelligence Council, an independent group that advises the director of central intelligence. The assessments predicted that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict. One of the reports also warned of a possible insurgency against the new Iraqi government or American-led forces, saying that rogue elements from Saddam Hussein's government could work with existing terrorist groups or act independently to wage guerrilla warfare, the officials said. The assessments also said a war would increase sympathy across the Islamic world for some terrorist objectives, at least in the short run, the officials said." [New York Times, 9/28/04]
2001 State Department Terrorism Report Left Out Bin Laden. “The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing terrorism.’” [CNN, 4/30/01]
Principals in Bush Administration Didn’t Even Meet on Al Qaeda Until Sept. 4th. [Commissioner] ROEMER: Were there principal meetings on al Qaeda and terrorism before September the 4th?
RUMSFELD: Well, there were certainly principals meetings where it was discussed. Whether it was the sole topic or not, you have those records and you would know. I left out...
ROEMER: Our records say no, that the first principals meeting on terrorism...
RUMSFELD: Just solely on that topic?
ROEMER: ... until September 4th.” [testimony 3/23/04]
THE FACTS ON KERRY’S INTELLIGENCE FUNDING PROPOSALS:
Kerry Strongly Supports Increased Intelligence Funding – Including $250 Billion in the Previous 8 Years – A 50% Increase Since 1996 – John Kerry, a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has strongly supported recent increases in Intelligence funding, and, in the wake of 9/11, has supported the bipartisan call for an even larger increase in intelligence funding. According to a report issued by the Center for Defense Information entitled “Intelligence Funding and the War on Terror” John Kerry has supported approximately $250 billion in Intelligence funding over the past eight years alone. The report concludes that Kerry has supported a 50% increase in intelligence funding since 1996. Recently, Kerry stressed the need for greater intelligence in order to protect the country from terrorism: "The best single defense we have today, the most important weapon in the war against terrorism, is intelligence, good intelligence. We're way behind the curve in terms of human intelligence-gathering capacity as well as mutual legal-assistance efforts. You've got to know who they are, where they are what their plans are and hit them before they hit you. That's intelligence." [Senate Intelligence Authorization Funding voice votes 9/25/02, 12/13/01, 12/6/00, 11/19/1999, 10/8/98 & 9/25/96; 1997, Senate Roll Call vote # 109; Jewish News Bulletin of Northern California, 4/5/02]
BUSH ATTACK IGNORES BIPARTISANSHIP OF PLAN
In 1994, Bush and Ford National Security Advisor Scowcroft says intelligence was "way overblown."
Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush, recently described the present intelligence community as "way overblown." With the Cold War over, Scowcroft said, "we need a new kind of intelligence, a different kind of intelligence that is less directed at technical collection, where we are good" and goes "back to human intelligence, where we don't do as well."A former deputy director of the CIA, looking back on the past few years, said he and his colleagues "just individually made cutbacks in their own activities without someone stepping back and trying to put together an overall approach to the new demands.” [Pincus, The Washington Post 6/13/94]
Bush Campaign Co-Chair Mark Hatfield Voted With Kerry On This Issue: “Congressman Greg Walden, who is serving his 3rd term representing the 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives, will serve as Co-Chair and former Governor Vic Atiyeh and Senator Mark Hatfield will serve as Honorary Co-Chairman.” Mark Hatfield voted with Kerry in 1994. [www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2072; Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39]
Bush and Cheney “proud to share the ticket” with Senator who voted with Kerry: Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley voted with Kerry on the 1994 deficit reduction plan, but that did not stop Dick Cheney from telling an Iowa crowd: “The President and I rely on Chuck to get things done, but he also is great because he remembers where he comes from, and he keeps touch with the folks back home. And when he's up for reelection next year, the President and I are proud to be on the same ticket with Chuck Grassley.” [Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39; Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa, 10/3/2003].
Bush’s Former CIA Director Says Kerry Would Not Have Gutted Intelligence
SEN. MARK DAYTON (D), MINNESOTA: Hypothetically, would a 1 percent, say, reduction in your budget for each of five years -- quote, unquote -- "gut" your agency and its intelligence-gathering capabilities?
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Let me say that, in the mid-'90s it wouldn't have been helpful.
DAYTON: Would it have gut, would it have gut, in that vernacular?
TENET: No $300 million cut is going to gut your intelligence capability. [Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 3/9/2004]]
CNN Truth Squad looking for savings was a “bipartisan project”DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the surface, the president's charge is simple, that Senator Kerry once tried to slash the budget for U.S. intelligence.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
He's for good intelligence, yet he was willing to get the intelligence services. And that is no way to lead a nation in a time of war.
ENSOR: But the reality is more complex. True, back in '95, Senator Kerry did propose to cut the intelligence budget by $300 million a year for five years. Out of a classified intelligence budget believed to have been around $29 billion, that's a roughly 1 percent cut. … But here's some context. In 1995, the supersecret National Reconnaissance Office had just shocked Congress by building a very opulent headquarters for $300 million, using money it had secretly tucked away over the years. Congress soon learned that the NRO had at least $900 million more hidden in secret accounts in reserve for future cost overruns on their spy satellites.
JAMES BAMFORD, AUTHOR, "BODY OF SECRETS":
The reason for proposing these bills was because they thought that the NRO was squirreling money away in like a little piggy bank and then refusing to tell Congress that they had this piggy bank. So instead of giving the NRO money the next year, they just said, take the money out of your piggy bank and use that.
ENSOR (on camera): And, in fact, Republican Senator Arlen Specter co-sponsored a bill which became law cutting $900 million from intelligence in just one year. Back then, looking for savings at the end of the Cold War and reforming the NRO were bipartisan projects. [CNN 3/10/2004]
ANNOUNCER: And tried to cut or eliminate over 40 weapons now fighting the War on Terror.
Kerry is a Strong Supporter of America’s Military; Has Supported More Than $4.4 Trillion in Defense Spending & Voted for “Largest Increase in Defense Spending Since the Early 1980’s. He has support 16 of the 19 defense authorization bills since elected to the Senate. John Kerry is a strong supporter of the U.S. Armed Services and has consistently worked to ensure the military has the best equipment and training possible. In 2002, John Kerry voted for a large increase in the defense budget. This increase provided more than $355 billion for the Defense Department for 2003, an increase of $21 billion over 2002. This measure includes $71.5 billion for procurement programs such as $4 billion for the Air Force's F-22 fighter jets, $3.5 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter and $279.3 million for an E-8C Joint Stars (JSTARS) aircraft. Kerry’s vote also funded a 4.1% pay increase for military personnel, $160 million for the B-1 Bomber Defense System Upgrade, $1.5 billion for a new attack submarine, more than $630 million for Army and Navy variants of the Blackhawk helicopter, $3.2 billion for additional C-17 transports, $900 million for R&D of the Comanche helicopter and more than $800 million for Trident Submarine conversion. The current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner (R-VA) stated: “The defense spending increase for FY03 is the largest increase in defense spending since the early 1980's-reflecting the importance of defending the homeland and winning the global war against terrorism” [2002, Senate Roll Call Vote # 239; Websites of U.S. Senators Warner, Daschle, Dodd accessed 7/25/03]
Cheney Launched Massive Post Cold War Military Cuts“I’ve always liked to remind everybody at the outset that we are already embarked upon a massive reduction in U.S. military capability, a 25-percent cut in force structure. We've got the lowest active force today that we've had since before Korea. I've eliminated 70,000 civilian jobs in the last 18 months out of the Pentagon. I've closed or terminated 81 programs. We're shutting down 300 military bases worldwide. It's a massive reduction already underway.” [ABC, “This Week,” 9/29/91]
ANNOUNCER: And refused to support our troops in combat with the latest weapons and body armor.
Military Leaders: George Bush Sent Troops To Iraq Without Proper Protection.
· “In reference to armored vests, there was a shortage. … This is a long-term problem that should have been fixed, however, well before the Iraq war started.” [Brigadier General David Grange (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added]
· “I visited one of these units in December that was getting ready to deploy. That was December, they were deploying in January, and they were short basic equipment: radios, vests, armored Humvees, et cetera. We're better than that as a nation, and we're better than that as a military.” [General George A. Joulwan (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added]
· “Everybody had flack jackets and some body armor, but not the new body armor. They showed us the schedule, and said it was going to be done. They were short at that time, I believe, around 1,400 up-armored Humvees that were coming into the country … it does leave you wondering why couldn't we have done this before the war, and we simply didn't.” [General Don Sheppherd (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added]
· Could not “answer for the record why we started this war with protective vests that were in short supply.” [Gen. John Abizaid, House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, in Washington Post, 10/4/03, emphasis added]
Bush Still Slow To Address Troops’ Need For Body Armor. Though Bush promised to use the $87 billion to “acquire new equipment, such as armored Humvees and communications gear,” he was slow to deliver on that pledge. The Bush Administration first promised all the troops they would have body armor at the end of November. They extended and missed deadlines for December, January, and February, until the Army Secretary told Congress in March 2004 that there were finally sufficient stocks of body armor to equip all soldiers by the end of the month. [Bush Remarks at Iraq Supplemental Bill Signing, 11/6/03; House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, 9/24/03; UPI, 12/3/03; Hartford Courant, 1/11/04; House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 2/12/04; Senate Armed Services Committee hearing]
Soldiers Lacked Armored Vehicles, Still Buying Their Own Equipment as Late as This Year. In late March 2004, the AP reported, "Soldiers headed for Iraq are still buying their own body armor - and in many cases, their families are buying it for them - despite assurances from the military that the gear will be in hand before they're in harm's way. The Portland Press Herald wrote that “In early March, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee about the shortage of body armor and fortified Humvees for troops serving in Iraq. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said after a visit to Iraq in mid-June that U.S. forces still need better armored equipment. Of the 15,000 Humvees in Iraq, about 1,500 to 2,000 are armored, according to the Army.” [Associated Press, 3/26/04; Portland Press Herald, 7/2/04]
White House Threatened to Veto $87 Billion: “The White House threatened Tuesday to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq. After declining to threaten a veto last week before the Senate voted to lend up to $10 billion to Iraq, the White House surprised many people on Capitol Hill with its warning…Last week, without using the word "veto," Mr. Bush called on a series of wavering lawmakers and made it clear that he would not appreciate a vote for a loan. The statement on Tuesday, after eight Republican senators defied him last week and helped form a majority in favor of a $10 billion loan, was the strongest threat to date. "If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders.” [Firestone, New York Times, 10/22/03]
Nearly All Reconstruction Funds Are Unspent, Bush Administration Seeks To Shift Funds To Security. In an indication of the Bush Administration’s failure to plan for the increasing violence in post-war Iraq, the Bush Administration asked Congress to shift $3.4 from the reconstruction to the security of Iraq. The shift of funds “is a de facto recognition that [the occupation authority’s] ambitious plans to restructure Iraq’s entire economy have failed,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a security analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to U.S. officials, only $1.1 billion of the $18 billion reconstruction package authorized by Congress has been spent – and half of that was for security costs. [Washington Post, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/30/04; U.S. News & World Report, 9/20/04]
According to President Bush, The War on Terror Cannot Be Won. Asked 'Can we win [the war on terror]?' Bush said, 'I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.' ['The Today Show,' 8/30/04]
AD TITLE: "Facts"
DATE: 9/28/04
TYPE: Radio
PAID FOR BY: Bush-Cheney ’04
President Bush: I’m George W. Bush and I approve this message.
Voice Over: PAID FOR BY BUSH-CHENEY ’04, INC. AND THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Voice Over: What does it take to lead America in the War on Terror? Steadiness, a commitment to make decisions based on what’s right, not political expediency.
Bush’s Conduct of the War on Terror Has not Made Us Safer
Gravest Error was Allowing bin Laden to Escape: Administration and military officials admit that failing to go after a cornered bin Laden was the “gravest error” in the war on terror. [Washington Post, 4/17/02]
Bush Diverted Critical Resources in the Hunt for bin Laden to Iraq: Up to half of the intelligence and special forces hunting for bin Laden were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. [KnightRidder/Tribune News Service, 9/5/03]
Bush Shifted $700 Million From Afghanistan to Iraq: In summer 2002, Bush shifted $700 million from supplemental funding for Afghanistan to “preparatory tasks” in the Persian Gulf region aimed at accommodating a massive U.S. troop deployment. [Washington Post, 4/18/04]
Global Terrorism is Increasing: Terrorist attacks increased from 2002 to 2003, and since 9/11 the number of terrorist incidents around the world has increased to the highest level in 20 years. [“2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism (amended),” U.S. Department of State]
Thousands of Al Qaeda Militants are Operating Globally: There are an estimated 18,000 militants operating in 60 countries who have been trained by al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has cooperative relationships with at least 20 extremist groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. [CRS, 5/23/03; BBC, 5/25/04; 9/11 Commission Report, 7/22/04]
Al Qaeda Regrouping and Strengthening: While the president has claimed that much of al Qaeda’s leadership has been killed or captured, new evidence suggests that the organization is regenerating and bringing in new blood. [New York Times, 8/10/04]
Bin Laden and Al Qaeda Still At Large and Plotting Against America: Senior administration officials admit that 3 years after 9/11, bin Laden and his chief lieutenants are directing al Qaeda to launch an attack in America this year. And Major General Eric Olson, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Forces in Afghanistan, admits that the U.S. military has no idea where bin Laden or his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are. [New York Times, 7/9/04; AP, 9/11/04]
John Kerry and his liberal allies in Congress want us to believe they’re strong on national defense. But the facts speak otherwise.
FACT: Just one year after the first World Trade Center attack, Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to cut our intelligence budgets by 6 billion dollars.
BUSH HAS INTELLIGENCE PROBLEMS OF HIS OWN
Even After 9/11, Administration Cut Counterterrorism Funds. “In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows. The document, dated Oct. 12, 2001, shows that the FBI requested $1.5 billion in additional funds to enhance its counterterrorism efforts with the creation of 2,024 positions. But the White House Office of Management and Budget cut that request to $531 million. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, working within the White House limits, cut the FBI's request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half, cut a cyber-security request by three quarters and eliminated entirely a request for "collaborative capabilities." [Washington Post, 3/22/04]
Bush Went Golfing Day After Getting Report titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” “As dawn broke over the rolling hills of central Texas, an 18-car motorcade roared past fields of grazing black Angus cattle, carrying George W. Bush and his presidential retinue from his ranch near Crawford to a morning round of golf. The day was Aug. 7, 2001, and the sun, glowing orange as it crested the dark treeline, was already hot. Bush, sporting a maroon-and-gold Polo shirt, was upbeat as he arrived at the Ridgewood Country Club, and he teased reporters about the weather. "I know a lot of you wish you were in the East Coast, lounging on the beaches, suckin' in the salt air," he said. He, by contrast, welcomed a chance to work and play in the 100-degree Texas heat. ‘I find that to be a good part of keeping me a balanced person,’ he said. If Bush was rattled by a daily intelligence briefing he had received the day before, titled ‘Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US,’ he didn't show it. He spread his arms wide and told reporters, ‘I'm enjoying myself.’” [Newhouse News Service, 4/19/04]
2001 State Department Terrorism Report Left Out Bin Laden. “The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing terrorism.’” [CNN, 4/30/01]
Principals in Bush Administration Didn’t Even Meet on Al Qaeda Until Sept. 4th. [Commissioner] ROEMER: Were there principal meetings on al Qaeda and terrorism before September the 4th?
RUMSFELD: Well, there were certainly principals meetings where it was discussed. Whether it was the sole topic or not, you have those records and you would know. I left out...
ROEMER: Our records say no, that the first principals meeting on terrorism...
RUMSFELD: Just solely on that topic?
ROEMER: ... until September 4th.” [Commission Testimony 3/23/04]
THE FACTS ON KERRY’S INTELLIGENCE FUNDING PROPOSALS:
Kerry Strongly Supports Increased Intelligence Funding – Including $250 Billion in the Previous 8 Years – A 50% Increase Since 1996 – John Kerry, a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has strongly supported recent increases in Intelligence funding, and, in the wake of 9/11, has supported the bipartisan call for an even larger increase in intelligence funding. According to a report issued by the Center for Defense Information entitled “Intelligence Funding and the War on Terror” John Kerry has supported approximately $250 billion in Intelligence funding over the past eight years alone. The report concludes that Kerry has supported a 50% increase in intelligence funding since 1996. Recently, Kerry stressed the need for greater intelligence in order to protect the country from terrorism: "The best single defense we have today, the most important weapon in the war against terrorism, is intelligence, good intelligence. We're way behind the curve in terms of human intelligence-gathering capacity as well as mutual legal-assistance efforts. You've got to know who they are, where they are what their plans are and hit them before they hit you. That's intelligence." [Senate Intelligence Authorization Funding voice votes 9/25/02, 12/13/01, 12/6/00, 11/19/1999, 10/8/98 & 9/25/96; 1997, Senate Roll Call vote # 109; Jewish News Bulletin of Northern California, 4/5/02]
BUSH ATTACK IGNORES BIPARTISANSHIP
In 1994, Bush and Ford National Security Advisor Scowcroft says intelligence was "way overblown."
Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush, recently described the present intelligence community as "way overblown." With the Cold War over, Scowcroft said, "we need a new kind of intelligence, a different kind of intelligence that is less directed at technical collection, where we are good" and goes "back to human intelligence, where we don't do as well."A former deputy director of the CIA, looking back on the past few years, said he and his colleagues "just individually made cutbacks in their own activities without someone stepping back and trying to put together an overall approach to the new demands.” [Pincus, The Washington Post 6/13/94]
Bush Campaign Co-Chair Mark Hatfield Voted With Kerry On This Issue: “Congressman Greg Walden, who is serving his 3rd term representing the 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives, will serve as Co-Chair and former Governor Vic Atiyeh and Senator Mark Hatfield will serve as Honorary Co-Chairman.” Mark Hatfield voted with Kerry in 1994. [www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2072; Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39]
Bush and Cheney “proud to share the ticket” with Senator who voted with Kerry: Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley voted with Kerry on the 1994 deficit reduction plan, but that did not stop Dick Cheney from telling an Iowa crowd: “The President and I rely on Chuck to get things done, but he also is great because he remembers where he comes from, and he keeps touch with the folks back home. And when he's up for reelection next year, the President and I are proud to be on the same ticket with Chuck Grassley.” [Senate Roll Call Vote 1994 # 39; Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa, 10/3/2003].
Bush’s Former CIA Director Says Kerry Would Not Have Gutted Intelligence
SEN. MARK DAYTON (D), MINNESOTA: Hypothetically, would a 1 percent, say, reduction in your budget for each of five years -- quote, unquote -- "gut" your agency and its intelligence-gathering capabilities?
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: Let me say that, in the mid-'90s it wouldn't have been helpful.
DAYTON: Would it have gut, would it have gut, in that vernacular?
TENET: No $300 million cut is going to gut your intelligence capability. [Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 3/9/2004]]
CNN Truth Squad: Looking for savings was a “bipartisan project”
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the surface, the president's charge is simple, that Senator Kerry once tried to slash the budget for U.S. intelligence.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's for good intelligence, yet he was willing to get the intelligence services. And that is no way to lead a nation in a time of war.
ENSOR: But the reality is more complex. True, back in '95, Senator Kerry did propose to cut the intelligence budget by $300 million a year for five years. Out of a classified intelligence budget believed to have been around $29 billion, that's a roughly 1 percent cut. … But here's some context. In 1995, the supersecret National Reconnaissance Office had just shocked Congress by building a very opulent headquarters for $300 million, using money it had secretly tucked away over the years. Congress soon learned that the NRO had at least $900 million more hidden in secret accounts in reserve for future cost overruns on their spy satellites.
JAMES BAMFORD, AUTHOR, "BODY OF SECRETS": The reason for proposing these bills was because they thought that the NRO was squirreling money away in like a little piggy bank and then refusing to tell Congress that they had this piggy bank. So instead of giving the NRO money the next year, they just said, take the money out of your piggy bank and use that.
ENSOR (on camera): And, in fact, Republican Senator Arlen Specter co-sponsored a bill which became law cutting $900 million from intelligence in just one year. Back then, looking for savings at the end of the Cold War and reforming the NRO were bipartisan projects. [CNN 3/10/2004]
FACT: Over the past 20 years, they have fought to cancel or reduce 40 key weapons now being used by our troops in combat to protect them and America in the War on Terror.
Kerry is a Strong Supporter of America’s Military; Has Supported More Than $4.4 Trillion in Defense Spending & Voted for “Largest Increase in Defense Spending Since the Early 1980’s. He has support 16 of the 19 defense authorization bills since elected to the Senate. John Kerry is a strong supporter of the U.S. Armed Services and has consistently worked to ensure the military has the best equipment and training possible. In 2002, John Kerry voted for a large increase in the defense budget. This increase provided more than $355 billion for the Defense Department for 2003, an increase of $21 billion over 2002. This measure includes $71.5 billion for procurement programs such as $4 billion for the Air Force's F-22 fighter jets, $3.5 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter and $279.3 million for an E-8C Joint Stars (JSTARS) aircraft. Kerry’s vote also funded a 4.1% pay increase for military personnel, $160 million for the B-1 Bomber Defense System Upgrade, $1.5 billion for a new attack submarine, more than $630 million for Army and Navy variants of the Blackhawk helicopter, $3.2 billion for additional C-17 transports, $900 million for R&D of the Comanche helicopter and more than $800 million for Trident Submarine conversion. The current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner (R-VA) stated: “The defense spending increase for FY03 is the largest increase in defense spending since the early 1980's-reflecting the importance of defending the homeland and winning the global war against terrorism” [2002, Senate Roll Call Vote # 239; Websites of U.S. Senators Warner, Daschle, Dodd accessed 7/25/03]
Cheney Launched Massive Post Cold War Military Cuts
“I’ve always liked to remind everybody at the outset that we are already embarked upon a massive reduction in U.S. military capability, a 25-percent cut in force structure. We've got the lowest active force today that we've had since before Korea. I've eliminated 70,000 civilian jobs in the last 18 months out of the Pentagon. I've closed or terminated 81 programs. We're shutting down 300 military bases worldwide. It's a massive reduction already underway.” [ABC, “This Week,” 9/29/91]
FACT: After voting to authorize the use of force in Iraq, they voted against funding our troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John Kerry Voted to Fund Iraq’s Reconstruction Through Shared Sacrifice – Not a Blank Check for a Failed Policy. After witnessing the way in which the president went to war – without our allies, without properly equipping the troops, without a plan to win the peace – John Kerry supported a responsible plan to pay for George Bush’s $87 billion Iraq reconstruction plan by rescinding the tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. But the Bush administration refused. “The best way to support our troops and take the target off their backs is with a real strategy to win the peace in Iraq - not by throwing $87 billion at George Bush's failed policies,” Kerry said. “I am voting ‘no’ on the Iraq resolution to hold the President accountable and force him finally to develop a real plan that secures the safety of our troops and stabilizes Iraq.” [SA 1796, Kerry original cosponsor 10/1/03; Vote #373, 10/2/03; Vote #400, 10/17/03; Kerry statement, Congressional Record, 10/17/03]
White House Threatened to Veto $87 Billion if Congress Made the Funds a Loan. George Bush repeatedly says on the campaign trail that “There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat.” But “The White House threatened … to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq. … ‘If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill,’ Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders.” [Bush remarks, 9/13/04; New York Times, 10/22/03]
REALITY: Bush Still Slow To Address Troops’ Need For Body Armor. Though Bush promised to use the $87 billion to “acquire new equipment, such as armored Humvees and communications gear,” he was slow to deliver on that pledge. The Bush Administration first promised all the troops they would have body armor at the end of November. They extended and missed deadlines for December, January, and February, until the Army Secretary told Congress in March 2004 that there were finally sufficient stocks of body armor to equip all soldiers by the end of the month. [Bush Remarks at Iraq Supplemental Bill Signing, 11/6/03; House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, 9/24/03; UPI, 12/3/03; Hartford Courant, 1/11/04; House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 2/12/04; Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, 3/2/04]
Nearly All Reconstruction Funds Are Unspent, Bush Administration Seeks To Shift Funds To Security. In an indication of the Bush Administration’s failure to plan for the increasing violence in post-war Iraq, the Bush Administration asked Congress to shift $3.4 from the reconstruction to the security of Iraq. The shift of funds “is a de facto recognition that [the occupation authority’s] ambitious plans to restructure Iraq’s entire economy have failed,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a security analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to U.S. officials, only $1.1 billion of the $18 billion reconstruction package authorized by Congress has been spent – and half of that was for security costs. [Washington Post, 9/15/04; Associated Press, 8/30/04; U.S. News & World Report, 9/20/04]
How can John Kerry and his liberal allies protect us when they voted against what America needs to fight the War on Terror?
According to President Bush, The War on Terror Cannot Be Won. Asked 'Can we win [the war on terror]?' Bush said, 'I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.' ['The Today Show,' 8/30/04]
FACT: GEORGE BUSH WENT TO WAR WITHOUT A PLAN TO WIN THE PEACE.
Bush Rushed To War With No Plan To Win The Peace. Bush told the country that the administration would "plan carefully" for a war in Iraq. Yet in August 2003, the Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared a secret report assessing the post-war planning for Iraq. The report blamed "setbacks in Iraq on a flawed and rushed war-planning process." It also said "planners were not given enough time" to plan for reconstruction. A New York Times report found that, "A yearlong State Department study predicted many of the problems that have plagued the American-led occupation of Iraq." The study was produced by experts on Iraq from various fields, yet "several officials said that many of the findings in the $5 million study were ignored by Pentagon officials" until after the war. [Bush Remarks, 10/7/02; Washington Times, 9/3/03, emphasis added; New York Times, 10/19/03]
Military Generals Criticize Bush's Failures In Iraq War. "The troops are paying the price for arrogant mismanagement and poor planning at the civilian policy level," said retired Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrilll 'Tony' McPeak. General Anthony Zinni said, "There has been poor operational planning and execution on the ground." "I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure," retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, a former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East. Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who spent much of the year in western Iraq, said he believes that at the tactical level at which fighting occurs. [Boston Globe, 7/1/04; CBS, "60 Minutes," 5/23/04; LA Times, 5/23/04; Washington Post, 5/9/04]
Members of the President's Own Party Criticized Failure to Plan. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN): "Clearly, the administration's planning for the post-conflict phase in Iraq was inadequate." Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): "We weren't prepared for an occupation. We made a tremendous amount of mistakes. We did essentially go after this in a unilateral way." [Lugar Op-ed, Washington Post, 5/22/03, emphasis added; CNN, "Inside Politics," 7/1/04, emphasis added]
...AT GREAT COST TO OUR TROOPS AND RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS
· At Least 1,034 U.S. Casualties in Iraq Since the Beginning of the War. There have been at least 1,034 American casualties in Iraq since the beginning of the war. American troops have borne 90 percent of the total number of casualties. [Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index," Updated 9/22/04]
· More Than 100 Hostages Taken Since April. "More than 100 foreign hostages have been seized since April; most have been released but around 30 have been killed, according to Reuters." [New York Times, 9/24/04]
· More Than 30 Hostages Executed Since April, Including More than Nine Beheadings. "Since April, around 30 hostages have been executed by their captors in Iraq. At least nine are known to have been beheaded." [Reuters, 9/22/04]
· Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi: "Terrorists are Still Pouring In." GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "But more than 300 Iraqis died this week. There are 50 attacks every single day on US forces." IYAD ALLAWI: "No, this is an international war that being fought on Iraqi territory. Terrorists, foreign terrorists are still pouring in, and they're trying to inflict damage on Iraq to undermine Iraq and to undermine the process, democratic process in Iraq, and, indeed, this is their last stand. So they are putting a very severe fight on Iraq." [ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, 9/19/04]