Stupid Washington Post login crap to read the article....
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
:-)
Michael T. Tangorre
________________________________
From: Sandy Clark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 8:19 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: RE: Presidential debate tonight
From the Washington Post this morning, an analysis of the
factual errors and
truth stretching both sides made during the debate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63944-2004Sep30.html
Few Factual Errors, but Truth Got Stretched at Times
By Glenn Kessler and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page A10
President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry made few major factual
errors in last
night's debate, though on occasion they stretched the truth or
left out
inconvenient facts -- or may have confused viewers as they spoke
in policy
shorthand.
Bush, for instance, hailed the coming presidential election in
Afghanistan,
saying that the fact that 10 million people had registered to
vote was a
"phenomenal statistic." But Human Rights Watch this week said
that figure
was inaccurate because of the multiple registrations of many
voters. In a
lengthy report, the respected organization also documented how
human rights
abuses are fueling a pervasive atmosphere of repression and fear
in many
parts of the country, with voters in those areas having little
faith in the
secrecy of the balloting and often facing threats and bribes
from militia
factions.
Kerry repeatedly stated that U.S. forces allowed Osama bin Laden
to escape
during the battle at Tora Bora in 2001 because the
administration, he said,
"outsourced" the task to Afghan militia leaders. This probably
overstates
the case -- it is unclear whether bin Laden was at Tora Bora --
but it is
true that the Pentagon relied on Afghan proxy forces in an
effort to
minimize the potential loss of U.S. military lives. Kerry said
bin Laden was
in Afghanistan, but the intelligence community has always said
he was
somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
After the Tora Bora fight, as local Afghan militias began
withdrawing,
considering their part of the war over, top Pentagon officials
appeared
ready to send hundreds of conventional ground troops into the
White
Mountains to press the search for bin Laden and his associates.
That plan
was dropped in favor of offers of money, weapons and
cold-weather clothing
to sustain Afghan cooperation.
On North Korea, Bush charged that Kerry's proposal to have
direct talks with
that country would end the six-nation diplomacy that the
administration has
pursued over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Kerry has said he
would continue
the six-party talks as well. Bush said direct talks with North
Korea would
drive away China, a key player in the negotiations.
But each of the other four countries in the talks has held
direct talks with
North Korea during the six-party process -- and China has
repeatedly asked
the Bush administration to talk directly with North Korea.
Moreover, the
Bush administration has talked directly with North Korean
diplomats on the
sidelines of the six-party talks, and Secretary of State Colin
L. Powell met
with his North Korean counterpart over the summer.
In a fierce debate over nuclear proliferation, Bush asserted:
"Libya has
disarmed. The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice." He
was
referring to a nuclear smuggling ring based in Pakistan.
But many experts also credit the patient diplomacy started in
the Clinton
administration for persuading Libya to cooperate. Moreover,
Khan, a national
hero in Pakistan, was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf,
and not a
single person involved in his network has been prosecuted
anywhere.
Yesterday, in fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency
complained that
it had been prevented from interviewing Khan.
Bush said he has increased spending on curbing nuclear
proliferation by
"about 35 percent" since he took office. But in his first
budget, he
proposed a 13 percent cut -- about $116 million -- and much of
the increases
since then have been added by Congress.
Kerry misspoke when he asserted that Bush is spending "hundreds
of millions
of dollars to research bunker-busting nuclear weapons." In fact,
the budget
for research on that weapon is less that $35 million. The
administration has
set aside almost $500 million for future budgets in case the
president and
Congress agree to go ahead with the production of such a weapon.
The two men also disputed whether Saddam Hussein would have been
stronger if
the United States had not launched an invasion. This is a
question that will
be debated by historians, and the answer may never be clear.
Bush said "Saddam Hussein had no intention of disarming." Yet
Iraq asserted
in its filing with the United Nations in December 2002 that it
had no such
weapons, and none has been found.
The Bush administration invaded Iraq because it believed Hussein
was
concealing stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Some
post-invasion
reports have argued that Hussein retained the capability to
restart his
weapons programs, but many experts consider that doubtful as
long as he
remained under U.N. sanctions and inspections.
However, when Kerry said Hussein would have been continually
weakened, he
was making a leap of faith that the U.N. Security Council would
have been
willing to continue sanctions that were increasingly unpopular
with key
nations.
Kerry suggested that the United States has spent $200 billion on
Iraq,
largely because it supplied the bulk of the troops. This was an
exaggeration
because it combined the amount already spent -- about $120
billion -- with
money that is expected to be spent in the coming year or
requested by the
administration.
But Bush also overstated the case when he corrected Kerry by
saying that the
senator forgot to mention that Poland supplied forces when the
invasion
began. Kerry said there were three countries that did --
Britain, Australia
and the United States -- and Bush said, "actually he forgot
Poland."
Poland later supplied troops and commanded a zone in Iraq. But,
except for a
few commandos, Polish troops were not part of the original
ground invasion.
And though Bush said there are 30 countries in the coalition, he
neglected
to say that about a half-dozen have recently withdrawn their
troops.
Kerry was correct when he said that the number of U.S. troops
killed in
June, July, August and September increased month by month. But
he left out
that the highest number killed in any month was 150 in April and
that the
total dropped to 88 in May and to 42 in June before it started
climbing
again to September's 92.
At another point, Kerry said that Powell "told this president
the Pottery
Barn rule: If you break it, you fix it." This anecdote comes
from Bob
Woodward's book "Plan of Attack," but Woodward actually reported
that Powell
privately talked with aides about the rule that if "you break
it, you own
it." He did not say this to the president -- and it turns out
Pottery Barn
has no such rule.
As part of his case that Kerry has sent mixed messages, Bush
asserted that
"he voted against the $87 billion supplemental to provide
equipment for our
troops, and then said he actually did vote for it before he
voted against
it."
While Bush meant it as a jab, this was an accurate description
of the Senate
process. Kerry supported a different version of the bill, which
was opposed
by the administration. At the time, many Republicans were
uncomfortable with
the administration's plans and the White House had to threaten a
veto
against the congressional version to bring reluctant lawmakers
in line. In a
floor statement explaining his vote, Kerry said he favored the
$67 billion
for the troops on the ground, but he faulted the
administration's $20
billion request for reconstruction
Sandy Clark
http://www.shayna.com <http://www.shayna.com/>
CF Pretty Accessible at http://www.shayna.com/blog
Now offering 4 days Hands on CSS training October 11-14th.
Rockville, MD.
For more information go to:
http://www.teratech.com/training/oc_classes.cfm#css
_____
From: Sam Morris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 1:59 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: Presidential debate tonight
I admit Bush looked bad when he couldn't find the
words and it happened a few times. But when he got the
words out he definitely took charge.
He really nailed Kerry on the North Korea issue. Kerry
claims he can get all the nations to help with Iraq
but then wants to bypass the multi-lateral talks with
N Korea and have a one on one? Kerry should have let
it go but wouldn't. It's obvious he has no clue about
how to handle that situation.
Also Bush got Kerry for claiming he can solve the
problems in Iraq while calling Allawi a puppet.
- <http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=17>
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