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Politics : Wesley Clark -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (405)	10/1/2003 11:01:34 AM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 1414

TALK ABOUT A CREDIBILITY GAP . . . Kerry’s Proposals To Slash Intel Funding And His Naïve Statements Are At Odds With Campaign Rhetoric About Making America Safer ____________________________________________ SENATOR KERRY FOUGHT TO SLASH INTELLIGENCE FUNDING BY AT LEAST $2.5 BILLION 1995: Proposed Bill Cutting $1.5 Billion From Intelligence Budget. Kerry introduced a bill that would “reduce the Intelligence budget by $300 million in each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.” There were no cosponsors of Kerry’s bill, which never made it to the floor for a vote. (S. 1290, Introduced 9/29/95) 1995: Voted To Slash FBI Funding By $80 Million. (H.R. 2076, CQ Vote #480: Adopted 49-41: R 9-40; D 40-1, 9/29/95, Kerry Voted Yea) 1994: Proposed Bill To Gut $1 Billion From Intelligence And Freeze Spending For Two Major Intelligence Programs. Kerry proposed a bill cutting $1 billion from the budgets of the National Foreign Intelligence Program and from Tactical Intelligence, and freezing their budgets. The bill did not make it to a vote, but the language was later submitted (and defeated – see below) as S. Amdt. 1452 to H.R. 3759. (S. 1826, Introduced 2/3/94) ü When His Bill Stalled In Committee, Kerry Proposed $1 Billion Cut As Amendment Instead. Kerry proposed cutting $1 billion from the National Foreign Intelligence Program and Tactical Intelligence budgets, and freezing their budgets. The amendment was defeated, with even Graham, Lieberman and Braun voting against Kerry. (Amdt.. To H.R. 3759, CQ Vote #39: Rejected 20-75: R 3-37; D 17-38, 2/10/94, Kerry Voted Yea; Graham, Lieberman And Braun Voted Nay) KERRY’S SHIFTING RHETORIC ON INTEL 2003: Candidate Kerry Says “We Have A Serious Problem” With Intelligence. “I believe there are enormous questions still about the overall intelligence given to the congress, the quality of that intelligence … If we don't know the answer about our intelligence, if we do not know what our intelligence community is telling us and whether or not it is broadly true, we have a serious problem.” (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 7/13/03) 12 Days After 9/11: Kerry Questioned Quality Of Intelligence. “And the tragedy is, at the moment, that the single most important weapon for the United States of America is intelligence. … And we are weakest, frankly, in that particular area. So it’s going to take us time to be able to build up here to do this properly.” (CBS’s “Face The Nation,” 9/23/01) 1997: Kerry Questioned Growth Of Intelligence Community After Cold War. “Now that that [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary? …” (Senator John Kerry Agreeing That Critic's Concerns Be Addressed, Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891) 1970: Even As Early As His Unsuccessful 1970 Congressional Bid, Kerry Declared Desire To “Almost Eliminate” CIA. “[Kerry] was quoted in The Harvard Crimson as saying he would like to ‘almost eliminate CIA activity’ …” (Michael Kranish, “With Antiwar Role, High Visibility,” The Boston Globe, 6/17/03)