Washington- American abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib were terrible, but they are not crimes on par with beheadings and other acts carried out by terrorists, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday.First of all, Don, let's call it what it was: "torture".
Coincidences are the strangest things ...
AP: 'U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 1,000 mark' ... 4:27 PM, Sept. 7th, 2004
AP: 'Ridge: Terrorists hope to disrupt election' ... 4:40 PM, Sept. 7th, 2004
Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday warned Americans about voting for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, saying that if the nation makes the wrong choice on Election Day it faces the threat of another terrorist attack.
Kerry is getting all sorts of advice, from all sides, these days. But here's some advice I hope he takes to heart: Kerry himself, very badly, needs to focus entirely on re-directing any questions about his fitness for office to what's happened the last four years, and leave attacks on Vietnam-era service up to surrogates.
To his credit, Kerry already seems to know this: in his midnight speech, Kerry referred to "unfitness for command" as being defined by misleading the nation into Iraq and failing on the economy. So I have much hope.
Now, a couple of words about this "forget the past!" theme. This election, in essence, will be an employee evaluation. As he has so many times in his life, George Bush would like to weasel out of his misdeeds and convince people that his evaluation should ignore his actual job performance, which has been worse than dismal. No employer who wanted to stay afloat would ever fall for such a cheap gimmick. And neither should we.
While it's certainly true that John Kerry has leaped to defend his biography from Bush distortions, Kerry is putting forth a comprehensive set of plans for the future. His campaign is entirely about the future. George Bush, by contrast, offers nothing but re-tread broken promises from his first term.
For John Kerry, "focusing on the future" means presenting a real plan to make America better. For George Bush, "focusing on the future" means running from his past. Take your pick.
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