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Democrats bash Bush over Iraq

Some of the candidates at the Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate in Albuquerque on Thursday were, from the left, Bob Graham, Dick Gephardt, Carol Braun and John Kerry. PHOTO: AP

The US Democratic presidential candidates hammered President George W. Bush on Thursday night for the turmoil in Iraq, but they disagreed over whether the US should send more troops there to try to stabilize the region.

The candidates, in the first official debate of the Democratic presidential contenders, united in denouncing what they said was Bush's failure to orchestrate international support for invading Iraq. And they repeatedly criticized his handling of the economy, upbraiding him in particular for what several described as a near-catastrophic loss of manufacturing jobs.

The debate came at a time when the Democratic presidential contest is coming into sharper focus, and that was reflected by the attacks on Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, by some candidates, in particular Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

But while many of his rivals consider Dean an increasingly formidable figure in the field, he was the subject of far less criticism than many Democrats -- including he himself -- had expected going into Thursday night's event.

Instead, Bush served as the real target of the evening. Disapproval of Bush's Iraq policy was voiced even by Democrats who supported the war last year.

"This president is a miserable failure on foreign policy," said Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

Gephardt said he would not support withdrawing now.

"We cannot cut and run," he said. "We've got to see that this situation is left in a better place. We have to form an international coalition to get it done. This president is a miserable failure... It's incomprehensible that we would wind up in this situation without a plan and without international cooperation to get this done."

Lieberman, one of the strongest supporters of the war, joined his fellow Democrats in criticizing Bush's handling of the postwar effort, but said he would support increasing the number of soldiers in Iraq. Other Democrats argued that this would be a mistake.

"If we need more troops, they are going to be foreign troops -- not our troops," said Dean. "Our troops need to come home."

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, whose sometimes ambiguous statements on the war have drawn attack from other Democrats, invoked Lieberman in opposing the notion of increasing troop strength.

"I disagree with Joe Lieberman on this," he said "We should not send more American troops. That would be the worst thing. We do not want to have more Americanization. We do not want a greater sense of American occupation. We need to minimize that."

The exchanges took place at the first of what will be six official Democratic candidate debates. This one was co-sponsored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The party was seeking to demonstrate its interest in Hispanic voters, who Republicans and Democrats view as a central constituency in next year's elections.

Many of the questions were posed by the moderators in English and Spanish, and the candidates stumbled over one another to try to demonstrate their sensitivity to Hispanic issues and culture. But Iraq -- and Bush's stewardship of the war -- dominated the evening. Edwards, who voted for the war resolution with Gephardt, Kerry, and Lieberman, stood by his vote on Thursday night.

"I actually believe that Saddam Hussein being gone is a very good thing, good for the Iraqi people, good for that region of the world," he said. "But I said a year ago -- almost a year ago -- that it was crucial in this effort that we bring our allies in and that we have a clear plan of what is going on right now. We have young men and women in a shooting gallery right now. And the prime reason is that we have a president who did not have a plan."

Sen. Bob Graham of Florida said the president owed the country answers to many questions about the war on terrorism.

"What will be our long-term commitment in Iraq?" he asked. "What will we do about restarting the war against Osama bin Laden? What is our exit strategy? Who is going to pay this $60 billion to $80 billion? Are we, this generation of Americans, going to pay our bills, or are we going to ask our children and grandchildren to pay this by adding to an already staggering national debt?"
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