Ohio Talking Points

Not surprisingly, every major paper in Ohio today leads off with a story on Kerry's speech in Cincinnati. Akron Beacon Journal: "Kerry blasts Bush on Iraq." Cincinnati Enquirer: "Iraq war costs us at home, Kerry says in new tactic." Columbus Dispatch: "Kerry blasts Bush on Iraq war." Cleveland Plain Dealer: "Campaign battle on Iraq heats up." Dayton Daily News: "Kerry: Bush rushed into war." Toledo Blade: "Kerry takes offensive over Iraq."

Several have editorials on the subject. The Cincinnati Enquirer, for instance, observes: "Kerry position in sharper focus." More importantly, the Enquirer closes by inviting readers to respond:

Are we better equipped to fight terrorism than we were on Sept. 11?" Send your responses to letters@enquirer.com; fax to (513) 768-8410; or mail to Letters, Enquirer Editorial Page, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.

Why not email the Enquirer a response? After you've done so, tweak it and send it along to the papers above. (It's easy, just click on the paper's name. I've got 'em hyperlinked.)

Looking for talking points?

• The Kerry campaign has a 10-page .pdf file called "Cincinnati Bungles: Bush Misled U.S. into War Based On False Evidence." That file quotes and refutes the arguments Bush made two years ago at a speech given at the same location in Cincinnati.
• The American Progress Action Fund has some great articles: "Over 1,000 U.S. Troops Killed and Still No Plan for Iraq" and "An Indefensible Homeland Security Record"
• Or just cite one of the Democratic Party's list of Bush lies. (Incidentally, ere's the full text of Bush's original Cincinnati speech.)

Ten Bush lies, 1,000 American deaths

More than 1,000 American men and women are now dead as a result of George W. Bush's flagrant, calculated lies "justifying" the war in Iraq.

John Kerry's speech in Cincinnati today outlined just how badly that decision has hurt America. Let's revisit another Cincinnati speech — the one George W. Bush gave on Oct. 7, 2002 — just as Congress was deciding whether to give Bush authorization to attack Iraq. Here are the ten lies that jump-started the wrong war—one that has killed 1000 Americans.

1. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction.

Bush: "[Iraq] possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons.

FACT: David Kay said no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. Kay said Bush should give up "delusional" hope that WMD will be found. [Kay Testimony, 9-11 Commission, 1/28/04; Reuters, 7/28/04]

2. Bush lied about an Iraq/Al Qaeda relationship.

Bush: "We know that Iraq and Al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade."

FACT: The 9/11 Commission Report said no "collaborative operational relationship" existed between Iraq and Al Qaeda, while the Senate Intelligence Committee report found no "established, formal" relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda. [9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/22/04; LATimes, 7/10/04]

FACT: A national security expert called conflation of Iraq and Al Qaeda a "strategic error of the first order." [Dr. Jeffrey Record (professor, Air Force's Air War College), "Bounding the Global War on Terror," December 2003, Army Strategic Studies Institute]

3. Bush suggested Iraq might have nuclear weapons and was planning to attack the U.S.

Bush: "Knowing these realities, America must not ignor the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

FACT: The Senate Intelligence Committee reported that previous U.S. intelligence estimates said Iraq did not have nuclear weapons. [Senate Intelligence Committee Report, Conclusion #27; Wash Post, 7/10/04]

4. Bush claimed Iraqi scientists were reconstituting nuclear weapons.

Bush: "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program."

FACT: Scientists were working on non-nuclear projects. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]

FACT: Saddam's scientist said Saddam gave up weapons in 1991. [AFP, 8/12/04]

5. Bush claimed Iraq was using aluminum tubes to produce weapons.

Bush: "Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons."

FACT: Senate Intelligence report found aluminum tubes were not being used to reconstitute nuclear weapons. [LATimes, 7/10/04]

FACT: No evidence that Iraq's nuclear program was being reconstituted. [CEIP: "WMD In Iraq," 1/2004]

6. Bush claimed Iraq was developing unmanned aerial vehicles to attack the U.S.

Bush: “We’ve also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical and biological weapons across broad areas. We’re concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs for missions targeting the United States.”

FACT: Air Force was never convinced Iraq had effective drones. [Wall Street Journal, 9/10/03]

FACT: United Nations chief weapons inspector concluded that no evidence of unmanned aerial program existed. [Wash Post, 9/5/04]

7. Bush promised to plan for war and build a real coalition.

Bush: If we have to act, we will take every precaution that is possible. We will plan carefully.
We will act with the full power of the United States military. We will act with allies at our side and we will prevail.”

FACT: The U.S. is carrying the burden in Iraq — nearly 90 percent of the troops there are American. [Washington Post, 6/20/04; AP, 9/6/04; Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index," Updated 8/16/04]

FACT: Officials admit Bush administration never had a concrete plan for post-war Iraq. [Newsweek, 7/21/03; Knight Ridder , 7/12/03]

FACT: Secret Joint Chiefs Report: Pentagon planners were not given enough time to consider reconstruction in post-war Iraq. [Washington Times, 9/3/03, emphasis added]

FACT: Bush is losing coalition forces in Iraq. Eight countries are planning to or have already withdrawn troops from the coalition in Iraq. In all, nearly 3,000 troops have pulled out or planning to pull out of Iraq this month. [AP, 8/13/04]

FACT: The Pentagon ignored early State Department predictions of postwar problems. [New York Times, 10/19/03]

FACT: Bush admits that he miscalculated the conditions in post-war Iraq. [New York Times, 8/27/04]

8. Bush said going to war with Iraq was crucial to the war on terror.

Bush: Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq could detract from the war against terror. To the contrary, confronting the threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror.”

FACT: The war in Iraq has hurt the war on terror. Former Bush counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke believes that by going to war in Iraq, "we delivered to Al Qaeda the greatest recruitment propaganda imaginable." [Newsweek, 4/12/04; Clarke 9/11 Commission Testimony, 3/24/04]

FACT: Al Qaeda Is Regenerating. "For the past several months, the president has claimed that much of Al Qaeda's leadership has been killed or captured; the new evidence suggests that the organization is regenerating and bringing in new blood." [New York Times, 8/10/04]

FACT: A national security expert said the war on terror was "strategically unfocused… promises much more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate scarce U.S. military and other means over too many ends." [Dr. Jeffrey Record (professor, Air Force's Air War College), "Bounding the Global War on Terror," December 2003, Army Strategic Studies Institute]

FACT: Troops were diverted from Bin Laden hunt to Iraq. [USA Today, 3/29/04, KnightRidder/Tribune News Service 9/5/03]

FACT: Franks told Graham that resources were being diverted to Iraq 14 months before the invasion. [AP, 9/5/04]

9. Bush said the Congressional vote on Iraq would not necessarily lead to war.

Bush: "Approving this [Congressional] resolution [authorizing war] does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable."

FACT: Bush mischaracterized Kerry's vote. [Bush remarks, 9/1/04]

10. Bush claimed Iraq possessed long-range missiles that could threaten Americans living in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and other nations.

Bush: "Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles – far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and other nations – in a region where more than 135,000 American civilians and service members live and work.”

FACT: Inspectors Findings Disprove Bush Claims "Inspectors have found that the Al Samoud-2 missiles can travel less than 200 miles — not far enough to hit the targets Bush named. Iraq has not accounted for 14 medium-range Scud missiles from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but the administration has not presented any evidence that they still exist." [Washington Post, 3/18/03]