Boxer says U.S. less secure, ties Jones to Bush policies

[Kadie]

CAMPAIGN 2004
Boxer says U.S. less secure, ties Jones to Bush policies

John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer
Saturday, September 25, 2004



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Four years of George W. Bush as president, marked by a full-scale war in Iraq, have left the country in a more dangerous position than it was before the president began his war on terror, Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday.

"We're not more secure,'' she told The Chronicle's editorial board. "On the Hill (in Washington, D.C.), I see bunker after bunker, checkpoint after checkpoint, and it breaks my heart.''

Boxer, a two-term Democrat running for re-election, voted in October 2002 against authorizing Bush to use military force against Iraq, a decision she doesn't regret.

"Twenty-three senators voted not to give the president that power, because we were afraid of a go-it-alone war,'' she said. While more than 30 nations have sent troops to Iraq, most have only sent token contingents of fewer than 1,000 troops.

Bush missed his chance to make the war in Iraq a truly international effort by blocking other nations from involvement in the rebuilding process, Boxer argued.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/25/BAGR18UPFL1.DTL