| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Therion Ware" |
| Date: |
01 Oct 2006 09:03:20 AM |
| Object: |
OT: White House in crisis over 'Iraq lies' claims |
IT says here:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1884879,00.html
White House in crisis over 'Iraq lies' claims
Watergate journalist's new book exposes how Bush has kept the US
public in the dark about the true costs of the 'war on terror'
Paul Harris in New York
Sunday October 1, 2006
The Observer
President George Bush was braced for one of the toughest fights of his
political life yesterday as a fierce row broke out over whether he has
been misleading the American public over the worsening violence in
Iraq. The crisis also rippled across the Atlantic with claims that the
administration hid crucial Iraq intelligence from its British allies.
Sparking the crisis was a series of leaks from a hard-hitting new book
by the political journalist Bob Woodward, one of the two Washington
Post reporters who broke the Watergate scandal that engulfed the Nixon
administration three decades ago.
The author's first television interview on the Iraq book is due to be
shown this evening on the CBS show 60 Minutes, and is expected to
ignite a huge row over the conduct of the war. The book lifts the lid
on an administration in crisis, claiming that Bush and his top
officials have deliberately covered up the seriousness of the violence
in the war-torn country.
Woodward has so far been sympathetic to the Bush administration's
decision to go to war in Iraq.
In the TV interview Woodward accuses Bush of keeping the real
situation in Iraq secret from the American public and playing down the
true level of violence. 'There's public [information] and there's
private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret.
No one is supposed to know,' he says.
His book - State of Denial - is also understood to say Tony Blair was
angry at discovering that Washington was keeping key intelligence on
Iraq from Britain - even classifying reports based partly on
contributions from British operatives as off-limits. In some cases,
British personnel flying US planes in Iraq were denied access to
pilots' manuals, the book reportedly alleges. Downing Street denied to
comment last night.
Woodward's book says that insurgent attacks in Iraq are now running at
a rate of about four an hour and that officials believe the situation
will get worse next year. That allegation is particularly damaging to
the administration, which has staked its reputation in mid-term
Congressional elections on its ability to win the war. It also flies
in the face of regular Republican claims that the situation in Iraq is
improving.
Woodward's book also provides a gripping insider's account of a White
House deeply divided over Iraq. It shows that Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has been at odds with Bush over the war and that
former White House chief of staff Andy Card had backed the replacement
of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld - but was overruled.
It portrays Bush as determined to stick it out even if his only
supporters are whittled down to his wife and the White House dog. 'I
will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are the only ones
supporting me,' Woodward quotes Bush as having told top Republicans at
a White House meeting.
The book could not have come at a worse time for the Republican party.
America is gearing up for vital elections and both parties are
fighting on the issue of national security. That is usually a
Republican strength, but Woodward's book will undermine the idea that
the ruling party is best at prosecuting the war.
Bush spokesman Tony Snow has denied one key allegation - that Rumsfeld
no longer takes calls from Rice. 'That is ridiculous,' Snow said. The
White House has also insisted that the war in Iraq remains a vital
part of the wider war on terror. In his weekly radio address, Bush
said that fighting Islamic militants was part of winning the struggle
against terrorists.
He also slammed Democrats and others who used a leaked intelligence
report last week - which warned that invading Iraq had made America
more prone to terrorist attack - to score political points against
Bush's Iraq policy. 'Some in Washington have selectively quoted from
this document to make the case that, by fighting the terrorists in
Iraq, we are making our people less secure here at home. This argument
buys into the enemy's propaganda.'
But it is now far from clear that such arguments are resonating with
the American public.
The Democrats, who once shied away from any debate on national
security, have started to make it the central plank of their mid-term
campaign. The party pulled no punches yesterday in responding to
Bush's radio speech by choosing the Democratic Congressional candidate
Tammy Duckworth to give its official response. Duckworth is a
helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq and now is a candidate for
a seat in Illinois.
She vigorously attacked Republican attempts to paint her party as
'cutting and running' from the war. 'I believe the brave men and women
who are serving in Iraq today, their families and the American people,
deserve more than the same empty slogans and political name-calling,'
Duckworth said.
--
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
attrib: Pauline Réage. Cine To DVD? http://www.video2cd.co.uk
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