Iraq; "Senator John F. Kerry
accused the Bush administration yesterday of secretly planning to call up a substantial number of military reservists and National Guard units after Election Day to go to Iraq, opening a new front in the Democrat's ongoing attack that the president is concealing postwar instability in Iraq from American voters.
'he won't tell us what congressional leaders are now saying, that this administration is planning yet another substantial call-up of reservists and Guard
units immediately after the election," Kerry told 300 people at a community center here.
'hide it from people through the election, then make the move -- that's not the way we do business in the United States of America, my friends. We deserve a president who tells the American people the truth, and when it comes to Iraq, George W. Bush simply won't own up to the truth. He hasn't all along. In fact, he'll do anything he can to cover up the truth." The allegations came after the Kerry campaign this week asked Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a congressional ally and Pentagon specialist, to provide evidence of the reservist plan in order for Kerry to escalate his questioning of Bush's handling of Iraq, aides to Murtha said yesterday. The aides said a relatively small number of
new reservists would be involved, probably 2,000 to 2,500, but the idea that such a plan would
be kept quiet until after the election spurred Kerry to focus on Bush's honesty as commander in chief. Kerry's allegations seemed to refer to a possible call-up of 2,000 to 2,500 reservists that military commanders think are needed, according to Murtha. Murtha released a statement saying he had
'learned through conversations with officials at the Pentagon" that the White House would 'call up large numbers" of reservists if the Bush-Cheney ticket is reelected. 'the Defense Department continues to plan for future operations in Iraq," he said.
''We have made regular announcements of troops rotations throughout this year and will continue to do so." Murtha, a 30-year House veteran who is respected in Congress and at the Pentagon on defense issues, spoke Wednesday with Rand Beers, Kerry's national security adviser, about the possibility of a new reservist call-up.
Kerry has aggressively hit Bush over the fact that reservists and National Guard members make up about 75,560 of about 150,000 US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, referring to their deployment as a 'back-door draft" to support overstretched Army, Marine, and other units. Kerry also sought yesterday to stir up ongoing
voter concern about Iraq yesterday by linking Vice President Dick Cheney's deferred compensation from Halliburton to a series of Pentagon audits that found about
$1.8 billion in unaccounted-for Halliburton expenses in Iraq and Kuwait. Kerry accused the Bush administration of
looking the other way as Halliburton allegedly defrauded taxpayers of $186 million for meals never eaten, $61 million for gasoline overcharges, and $100 per bag to clean laundry. 'now, who's minding the store while all of this has happened? Who's in charge?"
Borrowing a popular line from the NBC show 'the Apprentice," Kerry echoed host Donald Trump in saying: 'a's commander in chief, I've got two words for companies like Halliburton that abuse the American taxpayer and the trust:
'You're fired.' " Congressional Research Service. It concluded that, under federal ethics laws, deferred compensation like
Cheney's from Halliburton, totaling $2 million since he took office, and unexercised stock options qualified as an ongoing financial interest in the company. Cheney took out an insurance policy in 2001 to guarantee that Cheney's deferred compensation would neither increase nor decrease based on the performance of the company. According to a CBS/ New York Times poll published today
, 51 percent of voters believe that Bush is 'telling mostly the truth but hiding something" about Iraq, and another 24 percent feel Bush is 'mostly lying." The poll had few pieces of good news for Kerry; Bush held stronger marks for Not- protecting the United States from terrorism."
This is the kind of things I read that make me wonder who is really telling the truth? Because If your going play I am the guy for you role, then you need to show the American people you a not going to try and hide things from us. Even if its something that you know is shady!! Because, I don't know about you. I have raised my children to learn- If you lie about something once! Then its real hard for people to want to believe your not lieing again...Sort of like (The Wolf In sheepish Clothing)...Who's more deadly now, I need to ask? Who will if not careful will bring the WAR!! back to the United States if Were not careful!!! AGAIN.........