WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush and his challenger, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) spent much of their first debate Sept. 30 trading charges over the justification for the war in Iraq.
In a format designed to focus on foreign-policy and national-security issues, Kerry repeatedly charged Bush with misleading the public in rushing the nation to war, and Bush repeatedly accused Kerry of waffling on the war rather than holding to his “core convictions.”
Early on in the debate — held in the “battleground” state of Florida at the University of Miami — Kerry criticized Bush's unwavering support for the war even though virtually all of his administration's initial justifications for it have proven suspect.
“This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment,” Kerry said, “and judgment is what we look for in the president of the United States of America.”
But Bush said Kerry had changed from the position he held prior to the war. “My opponent looked at the same intelligence that I looked at [in the run-up to the war], and declared in 2002 that [then-Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein is a great threat,” he responded. “I agree with him — the world is better off without Saddam Hussein.”
Before entering into the war in the spring of 2003, Bush and other officials from his administration repeatedly asserted that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction or active programs to create such weapons, and that he therefore posed an imminent threat to the United States. However, in the year and a half since Bush declared an end to major combat operations in the war, no solid evidence of such weapons or programs has been found.
“He misled the American people,” Kerry said of Bush's Iraq WMD assertions.
Kerry also accused Bush of dishonesty with other justifications for the war — such as repeated public assertions from administration officials that there were links between Hussein's government and members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. The bipartisan commission that studied the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks determined that there no was credible evidence showing any sort of collaborative relationship between Hussein and Al Qaeda.
Nonetheless, Bush implied at several points during the debate that the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq war were related.
“Sept. the 11th changed how America must look at the world, and since that day our nation has been on a multi-pronged strategy to keep our country safer,” Bush said. “In Iraq, we saw a threat and we realized that after Sept the 11th we must take threats more seriously.”
And when the debate's host, PBS journalist Jim Lehrer, later asked Bush a question about the doctrine of “preemptive war” that he cited in attacking Iraq, the president replied, “The enemy attacked us, Jim, and I have a solemn duty to protect the American people. A president must always be willing to use troops as a last resort.”
Kerry responded with incredulity, claiming Bush had just said something “extraordinarily revealing” about his approach to the war.
“In answer to your question about Iraq…he said, 'The enemy attacked us,'” Kerry said. “Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us.”
“Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us,” Bush shot back. “I know that. And, secondly, to think that another round of resolutions would have caused Saddam Hussein to disarm — disclose — is ludicrous in my judgment. It just shows a significant difference of opinion.”
Bush criticized Kerry's argument that, if elected, he would be better at bringing estranged allies in to help internationalize the occupying forces in Iraq. Speaking of theoretical foreign leaders who might agree to work with Kerry on Iraq when they haven't worked with Bush, he said, ” They're not going to follow somebody whose core convictions keep changing because of politics in America.”
It was one of many times in the debate when Bush — as his campaign has done relentlessly for months — drew attention to what he asserted were Kerry's “mixed messages” on the Iraq war.
Bush particularly criticized Kerry for voting, prior to the war, to authorize the president to attack Iraq if necessary — but then later voting against an $87 billion supplemental funding package for troop supplies and reconstruction.
“The only thing consistent about my opponent's position is that he's been inconsistent,” Bush said.
Kerry has argued that he voted against that bill in protest over a provision contained in it — after he voted for a similar funding package that was defeated.
Responding to the debate jab, he turned the criticism back on Bush. “Well, you know, when I talked about the $87 billion, I made a mistake in how I talk about the war,” Kerry said. “But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse? I believe that when you know something is going wrong, you make it right.”
When Lehrer asked Bush if the American soldiers killed in Iraq — 1,052 as of the time of the debate — was worth the cost, the president showed the most emotion of the debate.
“No, every life is precious; every life matters,” Bush said. “You know, my hardest — the hardest part of the job is to know that I committed the troops in harm's way, and then do the best I can to provide comfort for the loved ones who lost a son or a daughter or husband and wife.”
-30-