Liberation News Service

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mekong Delta) responded
immediately, forcefully and comprehsively to the
_resident's dis-assembling of reality. Within a few
hours, SeeNotNews posted these scathing remarks: "This
is a far cry from what the president and his
administration told the American people throughout
2002. Back then, President Bush repeatedly told the
American people that Saddam Hussein, quote, 'has got
chemical weapons.' They told us they could deploy
those weapons within 45 minutes to do injury to our
troops...They told us they had aerial vehicles and the capacity to deliver those weapons through the air. And it was on that basis that he sent America's sons and daughters marching off to war...I noticed today the president said he made the decision to go to the U.N. Let's not revise history completely. We forced the president to go to the U.N. We pushed the president to go to the U.N..."

There is great danger ahead. There is a danger to the
electoral process itself. Why? Because even the Bush
Cabal's grip on the corporate media and yes, even on
its own base in the Expanded Confederacy is
deteriorating. These two men, Kerry and Gore, in very
different ways, have thrown down the gauntlet and
chosen to fight and to lead the fight. But even the
faint-hearted and the duplicitous are bailing
now...

Consider the NYTwits editorial, "Mr. Bush's
version," which declared "the only clarity in the
president's vision appears to be his own perfect sense
of self-justification," characterized the _resident's
response to question about "nation-building" in Iraq
as "simply silly," and went on to state that "some of
Mr. Bush's comments yesterday raise questions even
more disturbing than the idea that senior
administration members might have misled the nation
about the intelligence on Iraq." Yes, that's correct
-- even the NYTwits have now challenged the
_resident's CHARACTER, CREDIBILITY and COMPETENCE for
the nation's highest office. (Too bad they could do
simple math back in the throes of Fraudida 2000.)
What must be done to confront this danger? Kerry needs
to solidify his hold on the nomination, Howard Dean
(D-Jeffords) has to finish well (in Wisconsin) what he
started so bravely and rally to the banner of the
Party, Kerry needs to name a Vice Presidential nominee
early, that VP nominee needs to be someone who can
fight the Bush Cabal to the bloody end, someone with
national security credentials, yes, the LNS still
recommends Wesley Clark (D-NATO), but whoever it is,
that man or woman has to be courageous and
unequiviating. I do not know where that leaves Sen.
John Edwards (D-NC). We still have not seen him rise
to appropriate rhetoric for this State of National
Emergency. Kerry should also name a SHADOW GOVERNMENT
immediately, a handful of courageous and
unequivocating champions to spread out across the
country: for example, Elliot Spitzer, Shadow Attorney
General, Max Cleland, Shadow Secretary of Defense,
Gary Hart, Shadow Secretary of Homeland Security...Get
the idea? Strength in depth. Prepare for the worst.
This is a war, so far it is *civil* war (barely). The
country needs an election. It needs it bad. The
Democratic Party has to be ready to offer a clear
choice in that election, and it has to be ready, with
contingency plans, for what happened, for example, to
Sen. Paul Wellstone in 2002 and Robert F. Kennedy in
1968. (I am not about talking conspiracy theories here, I am talking about a Kulchur of Fear and Loathing and what it breeds.) There has to be an election in November. There has to be a united Democratic Party ready for that election, prepared for any eventuality, and united behind a strong candidate with strength in depth, standing both at his side and behind him.

Restore the Timeline, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/08/elec04.prez.kerry.iraq/index.html

Kerry: Bush told 'stories' about Iraqi prewar threat
Sunday, February 8, 2004 Posted: 1:28 PM EST (1828
GMT)

During an endorsement announcement by Virginia Gov.
Mark Warner, left, Kerry critcized President Bush's
comments about prewar Iraqi intelligence Sunday in
Richmond, Virginia.

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) -- Democratic presidential
front-runner Sen. John Kerry accused President Bush on
Sunday of changing his story on U.S. intelligence
about Iraq during an interview on NBC's "Meet The
Press."

At a news conference in Richmond, where he was
endorsed by Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Kerry also
suggested Bush is revising history on what led him to
approach the United Nations before taking military
action.

In a written statement, Kerry called on Bush to
testify before the intelligence commission he has
appointed to investigate the prewar intelligence.

"This morning on 'Meet the Press,' President Bush said
that his decision to go to war with Iraq when he did
was because Saddam Hussein had, quote, 'the ability to
make weapons,' " Kerry told reporters at the news
conference.

"This is a far cry from what the president and his
administration told the American people throughout
2002. Back then, President Bush repeatedly told the
American people that Saddam Hussein, quote, 'has got
chemical weapons.'

"They told us they could deploy those weapons within
45 minutes to do injury to our troops," Kerry said.
"They told us they had aerial vehicles and the
capacity to deliver those weapons through the air. And
it was on that basis that he sent America's sons and
daughters marching off to war."

Bush said on "Meet the Press" that he had "expected to
find the weapons," but that his decision to go to war
was really "based upon that intelligence in the
context of the war against terror." (Full story)

But Kerry said that the U.S. intelligence community
apparently had its own questions about whether Iraq
had such weapons.

"The problem is not just that he is changing his story
now -- it is that it appears he was telling the
American people stories in 2002," Kerry said. "He told
America that Iraq had chemical weapons two months
after his own Defense Intelligence Agency told him
that there was, quote, 'no reliable information on
whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical
weapons.' "

Asked about his support for a Senate resolution making
war an option, Kerry responded, "We voted for a
process" with assurance from the Bush administration
that weapons of mass destruction were "the only
rationale for going to war."

Kerry said he and other lawmakers pushed the
administration to build a "legitimate global
coalition" and "honor" the process of U.N. weapons
inspections by giving it time to find answers.

"I noticed today the president said he made the
decision to go to the U.N. Let's not revise history
completely. We forced the president to go to the U.N.
We pushed the president to go to the U.N," he said.

Kerry accused the administration of picking and
choosing intelligence that promoted its position while
leaving out "clear evidence to the contrary."

Bush, however, said in his "Meet the Press" interview
that "Congress saw the same intelligence I had, and
they looked at exactly what I looked at, and they made
an informed judgment based upon the information that I
had."

Kerry said he questions whether the United Nations
would now trust U.S. intelligence on any other
country. There is an "urgency" to get answers, he
said.

He reiterated his call for Bush to have "a legitimate
and immediate investigation into the extraordinary
failure of intelligence or to help explain to the
American people whether there were politics in the
development of that intelligence."

"It ought to be done in a matter of months," Kerry
said.

"I ask the president to take responsibility and set
the record straight and immediately convene people who
can give those answers to the American people," he
said.

In a written statement, Kerry called on Bush "in light
of his new information today" to "immediately agree to
testify before his intelligence commission."

Bush said on NBC that he'd be glad to visit the
commission but would not testify.