Kerry amplifies his theme that US was misled

TIPTON, Iowa -- John F. Kerry said yesterday that comments made about the Iraq war by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and L. Paul Bremer, the former US administrator in Iraq, offered fresh proof President Bush and his administration did not level with the American people in the run-up to hostilities and continue to mislead them amid the post-combat occupation.

Rumsfeld, speaking Monday to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, challenged one of the administration's justifications for the war when he was asked whether there was a connection between the deposed Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, and the Al Qaeda terrorist network linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ''To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two," Rumsfeld said, although he also said establishing such connections can be elusive and is the subject of dispute among intelligence analysts.

Bremer, who was the top American official in Iraq before sovereignty was transferred to Iraqi leaders on June 28, also appeared to contradict administration officials who dismissed both a top Army general before the war when he warned several hundred thousand troops would be needed for combat and the occupation. Currently there are about 135,000 US troops in Iraq. Bremer said more had been needed to stop the looting that followed the war.

''We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said Monday while addressing an insurance conference in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. ''We never had enough troops on the ground." He also said in a Sept. 17 speech at DePauw University in Indiana that he frequently raised the issue within the administration and ''should have been even more insistent" when his advice was spurned, because Iraq might be more stable today.

Pouncing on both comments during a news conference aimed at preempting a terrorism speech Bush will deliver today, Kerry said: ''Behind the scenes in all of these discussions and presentations is Dick Cheney. It's time for the vice president to be accountable and to answer the questions that have arisen."

The Democratic presidential nominee -- speaking hours before his running-mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, was to debate Cheney in Cleveland -- also told a town hall meeting audience in this east-central Iowa town, ''I don't know if the president is constitutionally incapable of acknowledging truth. I don't know if he's just so stubborn that he's going to go down, but, you know, this is what you're thinking about as you sit here to make a judgment about who can and should be president of the United States."

Kerry's comments were attacked by Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt, who said Kerry was ''second-guessing" American military commanders in Iraq and sending ''the wrong message to our troops, our allies, and our enemies."

''John Kerry voted for the war, voted against the troops for political gain, said the war was the 'right decision,' and said it was the 'wrong war,' " Schmidt said. ''The president has consistently said he will listen to the commanders on the ground for military advice. He did so at the beginning of the war, and he will continue to do so."

During his news conference, Kerry said Bush was offering the administration's ''blanket scare tactic" when he warned Monday in Iowa that ''the policies of my opponent are dangerous for world peace."

The Massachusetts senator said: ''I've made it clear and I'll make it clear every day: I defended this country and fought for this country and bled for this country as a young man. I know what it takes to defend America. I have voted for the biggest defense budgets in American history. I have voted for the largest intelligence budgets in American history. And I have consistently laid out the steps we should take to make America stronger and safer in the war on terror. The president has consistently avoided those choices."

Earlier in his town hall meeting, a pair of middle-school students asked Kerry about his Iraq exit strategy and his strategy for getting more allies involved, triggering a response that appeared to undercut his complaint that Bush's unilateralist policies have left American's suffering 90 percent of the casualties and bearing 90 percent of the cost.

''What I will do is bring new credibility, a fresh start, a presidency with the trust that will be able to bring the allies to the table," he said. ''Now, does that mean that allies are going to trade their young for our young in body bags? I know they're not; I understand that. What it means is that we have to get them to take on different roles."

He also discounted Bush's contention in their debate that Kerry saw the same intelligence as the president before voting in October 2002 on a congressional resolution authorizing war in Iraq.

''For the president to suggest that really is to again be disingenuous about the power of the presidency, what's available in the presidency in terms of the broad span of the intelligence network of the administration," Kerry said. ''When we get briefed, we get briefed by whom they choose to brief us by, by the people they choose to give us, and sometimes even by the limits of what they suggest they tell us."

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.