Democratic presidential contender John Kerry accused President George W. Bush of creating a "crisis of historic proportions" as infighting over Iraq dominated the US election campaign.
Kerry's strongest attack yet on Bush's action in Iraq came one day ahead of the US president's address yesterday to the UN General Assembly, where he was again expected to seek to justify the invasion of March last year to oust Saddam Hussein.
The Massachusetts senator called for a national debate on Iraq and the war on terror.
But while repeating a hope to replace US troops with soldiers from other countries and Iraqi security forces, Kerry added no new proposals on how to handle the crisis where the US military is suffering a mounting toll.
In a speech at New York University, Kerry said Iraq had become a "profound diversion" from the war on terror "and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the terrorists."
"Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions and, if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight," said Kerry, who is battling to unseat Bush in the November 2 election.
Kerry conceded that "some progress" has been made in Iraq, "but most Iraqis have lost faith in our ability to deliver meaningful improvements to their lives."
Bush has has acknowledged that miscalculations were made in Iraq, but Kerry said: "That is one of the greatest understatements in recent American history ... His were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment and judgment is what we look for in a president."
Bush struck back at Kerry, saying the Democrat lacks new ideas for ending deadly chaos in Iraq.
"Forty-three days before the election, my opponent has now suddenly settled on a proposal for what to do next -- and it's exactly what we're currently doing," Bush told supporters at a rally in New Hampshire.
"We're working with the international partners, we're training Iraqi troops, we're reconstructing the [country], we're preparing for elections. We're going to have elections in January," Bush said.
Bush said Kerry "prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy. I couldn't disagree more."
"And not so long ago, so did my opponent," he added, quoting Kerry as saying in December that those doubting whether the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein "`don't have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president.'"
"I could not have said it better," Bush said.
The president leads in opinion polls on his ability to resolve the Iraq crisis and lead the war on terror.
The two rivals agreed to face off in three televised debates to be held Sept. 30, Oct. 8 and Oct. 13.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS