Friday, August 27, 2004
Bush says he "miscalculated" in Iraq.
President Bush, undertaking a heavy campaign schedule in key states in the run-up to the Republican National Convention, acknowledges a "miscalculation" about what the United States would encounter in post-war Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
In an interview with The New York Times, Bush said for the first time that he made a "miscalculation of what the conditions would be" after U.S. troops went to Iraq and toppled Saddam's regime in May 2003. The insurgency, he maintained, was the unintended result of a "swift victory" that led to Iraqi troops disappearing into the cities and mounting a rebellion.
In a six-day tour of battleground states starting Friday in Miami, Bush wants to demonstrate his ambition to reach beyond his conservative base and appeal to undecided voters. In doing so, he is advancing the argument that the country will be safer with him in charge because he makes the tough decisions and sticks with them.
Bush also told the Times that he did not believe his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry, had had lied about his service in Vietnam. The group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has aired advertisements challenging Kerry's account of his service and claiming Kerry lied about circumstances surrounding his war medals. Kerry has accused Bush of using the group as a front to run a smear campaign.
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