Kerry says president concealed truth on Iraq

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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/09/17/kerry_says_president_concealed_truth_on_iraq?pg=full

Kerry says president concealed truth on Iraq
By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff | September 17, 2004

LAS VEGAS -- Senator John F. Kerry told the National Guard Association yesterday that President Bush "failed to tell you the truth" about Iraq when he spoke to the group Tuesday, and asserted that security conditions in Iraq are far graver than described by Bush in his "fantasy world of spin."

Escalating two weeks of attacks on Bush's honesty and ability as commander in chief, Kerry seized on new disclosures that national security officials warned Bush this summer that instability would roil Iraq through 2005 and possibly lead to civil war. Kerry said Bush had "failed that fundamental test of leadership" by concealing the true picture of Iraq from Americans -- such as telling the guardsmen on Tuesday, without qualification, that Iraqi elections would be held in January and that life was improving for Iraqis in spite of ongoing violence.

"True leadership is about looking people in the eye and telling them the truth, even when it's hard to hear. He failed to tell you the truth," Kerry said, eliciting a loud, brief boo from one man among the predominantly Republican crowd of several thousand guardsmen gathered for a conference in Las Vegas.

"His own intelligence officials have warned him for weeks that the mission in Iraq is in serious trouble," Kerry continued. "I think we deserve a president who isn't going to gild that truth, or gild our national security with politics, who is not going to ignore his own intelligence, who isn't going to live in a world of spin give the American people the truth -- not a fantasy world of spin, but a world where we challenge our brave men and women to be able to meet the test of our times."

Kerry said he was not "Monday-morning quarterbacking," but repeating criticisms of Bush and the war that he has made for two years. "We need a leadership that sees . . . better options for getting the job done, leadership that will never mislead you about the realities you face on the battlefield," Kerry said.<snip>