Kerry casts doubt on Bush credibility on Iraq
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Senator John F. Kerry yesterday questioned President Bush's candor about his reasons for going to war in Iraq and his explanation of his Vietnam-era military service record, warning that Bush's credibility may be so damaged that American allies would not trust his word in the future.
Kerry, after watching Bush talk about both issues yesterday on the NBC news program "Meet the Press," accused the president of "changing his story" about the rationale for the Iraq war because US inspectors have not found chemical weapons and other arms that Bush had cited to justify military action.
The Democratic presidential front-runner said that without a swifter investigation of prewar intelligence than Bush proposed Friday, the American people and the court of world opinion may grow skeptical of the administration.
"Look, our security is at risk today -- if in one month North Korea presented a major problem, and the president went to the UN, would the UN believe what he says?" said Kerry, in remarks to reporters in Richmond yesterday morning.
Kerry said American credibility also could be damaged because of Vice President Dick Cheney's meetings with intelligence officials in 2002 and the evidence given to Congress that year that led Kerry and many other Democrats to vote for military action in Iraq.
"I think there's an urgency to finding out precisely what happened to that [intelligence] evidence. I'd like to know why the vice president was visiting CIA at Langley. What was taking place? Why was clear evidence to the contrary ignored, and they selectively put evidence in front of Congress?" said Kerry, standing beside Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who endorsed the Massachusetts senator yesterday on the cusp of tomorrow's Virginia primary.
In response to reporters' questions, Kerry also offered nuanced criticism of Bush's record in the National Guard in the 1970s, which Bush defended on "Meet the Press" yesterday against Democratic attacks. The Globe in 2000 identified evidence that Bush stopped flying fighter planes two years before his military commitment ended, as well as records that indicate he missed required drills in Alabama in 1972. Democrats have recently compared Bush's record unfavorably with Kerry's decorated service in Vietnam. Bush said yesterday that he completed his military requirement and received an honorable discharge.
Kerry said he respected Bush's service in the Guard and noted that "a whole bunch of people" chose it "as a way of sort of serving but not necessarily going to Vietnam." But Kerry declined to take Bush's word that he fulfilled his term of service.
"The issue here is, was [Bush] present and active on duty in Alabama at the times he was supposed to be?" Kerry said. "I don't have the answer to that question. And just because you get an honorable discharge does not, in fact, answer that question. When you make a choice, I think people have an obligation to at least live out the choice they make."
Kerry emphasized that he was not criticizing Bush for joining the Guard, noting that Kerry's brother, Cam, received a high lottery number in the draft and contemplated going to Canada to avoid the war. Cam Kerry was not called for duty, campaign spokesman David Wade said.
After picking up Warner's endorsement, Kerry held a seven-minute news conference that was dominated by questions about Bush's television interview. But for the fourth day, the senator also was asked about his position on the proposed amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Kerry, who was walking away from a podium when the question was asked, turned and said, "Gotta go to church." He has said previously that he and his advisers are studying the two-sentence amendment for any negative impact on the future possibility of legalizing civil unions for gays and lesbians.
Kerry attended morning services with Warner at New Deliverance Evangelistic Church, where he was invited to the lectern and offered thoughts on his own faith and plans for the country, at one point recalling President Kennedy's exhortation at his 1960 inauguration: "Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own."
Kerry said, "As I think about what happens in Washington, D.C., what's happening in this country, what's not happening -- it is clear that so many people who profess faith, so many people who invoke faith in their speeches and on Sundays, seem to be absent when it comes to doing the work that makes the difference in the lives of our fellow citizens."
Late yesterday afternoon, Kerry promised to defend working-class interests during at a rally with about 1,200 people at a Chesapeake high school. He also decried lobbyists and other "special interests" in "gated communities where so many of those people live."
Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.
