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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (524473)	1/15/2004 12:38:28 PM
From: redfish	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

"that O'Neill is apparently unaware that when the president sits silent at a meeting it is because he doesn't "know, trust or like the person ... all of those have to be earned." Bush appointed someone he doesn't know, trust or like to be Secretary of the Treasury? That seems odd to me. It is a very important position, and I would have thought he would appoint someone that he trusts to it. Why appoint someone he distrusts?

To: sandintoes who wrote (524473)	1/15/2004 12:38:45 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Family of slain soldier finds ally in Kennedy By Ian Bishop Transcript Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Fearing their son may have died needlessly in Iraq, Massachusetts residents Brian and Alma Hart want some honest answers from President Bush. "I think an open and honest debate over war and peace is in order right now," Brian Hart said, his lips quivering. "It's time for a discussion." Twenty-year-old Army Pfc. John Hart was on patrol outside Kirkuk in an unarmored Humvee when he and his comrades from the 4th Infantry Division came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. Hart, a Bedford High graduate and member of the school's junior ROTC program, enlisted in the Army the day he turned 19. He died, family members say, living his dream of being a soldier. The Harts, of Bedford, were guests of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., for Kennedy's speech Wednesday before the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group, during which he condemned the war as a White House political product systematically marketed for election gains. "The administration capitalized on fear created by Sept. 11 and put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth to justify a war that could well become one of the worst blunders in more than two centuries of American policies," Kennedy said. "We did not have to go to war." The consequences of the "breathtakingly arrogant" Bush administration have put U.S. troops in harms way unnecessarily while weakening the nation's fight against al Qaida, Kennedy said. He said the U.S. military is overstretched with its current commitment in Iraq, allowing al Qaida to regroup. "I don't agree with Ted Kennedy on a lot of policy issues," Brian Hart said following the speech. "It was difficult for us to be here today, but he's right. "I know bin Laden is not in Iraq," he concluded. Asked about Kennedy's speech during his press briefing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush worked to "exhaust all diplomatic means before taking the action we took. "The president took the action he did because his most solemn obligation is to protect the American people," McClellan added. "And America is more secure because of the action that we took in Iraq." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called the speech a "hateful attack." "Ted Kennedy has explained to the American people why the Howard Dean Democrats cannot be trusted to protect the national security of the United States," DeLay added. Despite the comparison to Dean, Kennedy is backing the presidential bid of a fellow Bay Stater, Sen. John Kerry. Kennedy's speech marked a continuation of his criticism of the White House. Kennedy previously called the war a "fraud" that was cooked up in Texas, Bush's home state. Kennedy praised former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill for recently revealing the White House was preparing for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq just weeks after Bush's inauguration in 2001, nine months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. O'Neill's disclosure has dominated discussion in Washington and has emboldened Democrats in their criticism of Bush. The Bush administration dismisses speculation war planning was in the works, and say the decision to invade came only after diplomatic avenues had failed. But Kennedy, building on O'Neill's comments, said the war in Iraq was timed to gain the maximum benefit for Republican candidates heading into the November 2002 elections by diverting attention from the economy and the effort to capture bin Laden through warnings of the imminent threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction "The scare tactic worked," Kennedy said. "The Iraq card had been played perfectly." RETURN TO TOP