From the article:
``With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great
potential of a draft. Because if we go it alone, I don't know how you do it
with the current overextension'' of the military, Kerry said.
---------------------------------------------------
Kerry Warns Draft Possible if Bush Wins
Saturday October 16, 2004
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Kerry said Friday there is a ``great potential'' for
a new military draft to replace overextended U.S. troops in Iraq if
President Bush wins a second term, despite Bush's repeated pledges to
maintain the all-volunteer service. Republicans rejected the suggestion as
``fear mongering.''
Bush and his Democratic challenger also sparred over jobs and other domestic
issues as they campaigned through battleground states in the Midwest.
At a rally in Milwaukee, Kerry said Bush was ``out of ideas, out of touch
and unwilling to change'' and accused him of mishandling the economy. Bush,
campaigning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, called his rival an unrepentant liberal
seeking to hide his record.
Kerry raised the draft issue in an interview in The Des Moines Register
published Friday.
``With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great
potential of a draft. Because if we go it alone, I don't know how you do it
with the current overextension'' of the military, Kerry said.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt dismissed Kerry's comments as ``fear
mongering'' and suggested the Massachusetts senator was spreading ``false
Internet rumors.''
Kerry has suggested that Bush's heavy use of National Guard and Reserve
troops has created a ``backdoor draft.'' But his latest comments went
further.
Bush did not directly respond, but he said in Cedar Rapids that he was
``modernizing and transforming our United States military to keep the
all-volunteer army an all-volunteer army.''
In the second presidential debate, Bush said, ``We're not going to have a
draft, period.'' Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made similar
statements.
The latest dispute over the draft came as a survey indicated that military
families trust Bush over Kerry as commander in chief by 69 percent to 21
percent. Some 43 percent of the military sample said they were Republicans,
19 percent said they were Democrats and 27 percent independents.
The margin for Bush was smaller, 50-41, among all Americans questioned by
the National Annenberg Election Survey.
Kerry focused on the economy as he began a bus tour of Wisconsin, telling a
Milwaukee audience that Bush was ``out of touch with the average American
family'' and that his policies on jobs and taxes favor the wealthiest
Americans and special interests.
After leaving Iowa, Bush too went to Wisconsin, speaking at a rally in
Oshkosh.
Iowa and Wisconsin are among a dozen or so states that both sides deem still
in play. Others are Florida, Ohio, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada,
Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Maine and Michigan.
Both campaigns are polling in those and other states to detect any shift in
the post-debate landscape - any opportunity to add or subtract from the
battleground. Intrigued by public surveys showing Arkansas and Arizona
close, Kerry's pollsters are calling voters in those two GOP-leaning states
to see if they merit attention in the homestretch.
Bush has virtually stopped advertising in Washington state and advisers
privately concede that Oregon has moved comfortably to Kerry's side of the
ledger. The Republican National Committee was considering whether to begin
advertising in New York City, one of the nation's most expensive media
markets, to reach voters in surprisingly close New Jersey, a Democratic
bastion.
Bush's advisers say GOP polling since the debate has shown him gaining
ground in key states. Kerry's advisers say their surveys have shown no
change, though polls suggest that voters believe he won the three debates.
Meanwhile, Kerry defended his reference to the sexual orientation of Mary
Cheney during Wednesday's presidential debate. ``It was meant as a very
constructive comment, in a positive way,'' he told CNN.
Both Vice President ***** Cheney and his wife Lynne have rebuked Kerry for
referring to their openly gay daughter, and White House spokesman Scott
McClellan said Friday the president also ``does not believe it was
appropriate.''
Asked how his comment was constructive, Kerry told CNN, ``It's respectful of
who she is. And they've embraced her and they love her. I have great respect
for them for that. And it seems to me that was the point I was trying to
make.''
In Milwaukee, Kerry said that Bush ``either just doesn't understand...or
just doesn't care'' about the job losses during his term. Some 821,000
non-farm jobs have disappeared since Bush took office in January 2001,
making him the first president since Herbert Hoover to see a net loss of
jobs.
``The bottom line is this: This economy has a bad case of the flu and we
need a new medicine,'' Kerry said.
Bush also focused on domestic issues in Iowa, claiming his tax-cuts were
fueling a strong recovery and accusing Kerry of favoring ``more centralized
control and more government...There's a word for that. It's called
liberalism.''
Polls show Bush and Kerry in close races in both Iowa and Wisconsin, two
states that Democrat Al Gore won narrowly four years ago.
Bush and Kerry will launch fresh attacks in coming days. Bush will mock
Kerry on his approach to terrorism, particularly his statement that he wants
to reduce terrorism to a ``nuisance,'' said Bush campaign communications
director Nicolle Devenish. On Thursday, Bush will attack Kerry's health care
plans, and throughout his travels, Bush will hammer Kerry's economic agenda,
she said.
Kerry will deliver speeches during the next week as his ``closing argument''
for the campaign. Topics will include Bush's ``wrong choices'' on the
economy, the war on terror and health care, Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said.
``You look at President Bush and you see nothing but wrong choices and
mistakes that he refuses to acknowledge,'' McCurry told reporters. ``You
have to start wondering whether or not there's risk that he will repeat
those mistakes over the next four years.''
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4554475,00.html
--
They Knew...
Despite the whitewash, we now know that the Bush administration was warned
before the war that its Iraq claims were weak
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/they_knew_0802/
--
U.S. Report Finds Iraq Was Minimal Weapons Threat in '03
By DOUGLAS JEHL
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 - Iraq had essentially destroyed its illicit weapons
capability within months after the Persian Gulf War ended in 1991, and its
capacity to produce such weapons had eroded even further by the time of the
American invasion in 2003, the top American inspector in Iraq said in a
report made public today.
http://tinyurl.com/3p3q9
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/international/middleeast/0
6CND-INTE.html?hp=&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=)
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