US: Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry yesterday opened a new front against the Bush campaign by attacking Vice President Dick Cheney and his former company Halliburton for alleged cronyism in the award of billion-dollar contracts in Iraq, writes Conor O'Clery in New York
Mr Kerry also accused President Bush of not telling the truth about the war in Iraq and secretly planning a major call-up of US military reserves and National Guard after the November election to bolster a flagging military effort in Iraq.
Speaking to supporters in New Mexico, the Massachusetts senator said that Mr Cheney, who ran Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, received nearly two million dollars from the company while in office, despite declaring he had severed all financial ties.
"It is clear, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have mismanaged every aspect of the war in Iraq," Mr Kerry said. "Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, has profited from the mess in Iraq at the expense of American troops and taxpayers.
"While Halliburton has been engaging in massive overcharging and wasteful practices under this no-bid contract, Dick Cheney has continued to receive compensation from his former company."
A new Democrat campaign television advert also targets the vice president, declaring: "Dick Cheney got $2 million. What did we get? A $200 billion bill for Iraq, lost jobs, rising healthcare costs. It's time for a new direction."
The Bush-Cheney campaign denied conflicts of interest in the vice president's office. A spokesman said that "John Kerry's latest personal attack has as much accuracy as a Kitty Kelley novel" - a reference to a new exposé on the Bush family by the celebrity biographer.
President Bush did not directly address any of the Democratic criticisms yesterday while campaigning in North Carolina and continued to insist that his strategy was working in Iraq. But he did appear to respond to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's charge this week that the Iraq invasion was illegal, saying that his decision to go to war was in the security interests of the United States and the world.
"When the UN tried to send inspectors in there, he systematically deceived them," Mr Bush said, adding that Saddam Hussein would not have listened to another UN resolution.
"So I have a choice, at this point in our history: do I forget the lessons of September the 11th and hope for the best when it comes to a madman, or take action to defend the country? Given the choice, I will defend this country every time."
Mr Bush admitted, "We didn't find the stockpiles we thought would be there" but Saddam Hussein "had the capability of making weapons and he could have passed that capability on to the enemy".
Knowing what he knew today, "I would have made the same decision and America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell."
Mr Bush appeared to be also anticipating a final US arms inspection report due out soon that concludes Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, the chief argument for going to war, but left signs that he had idle programmes he someday hoped to revive.
The head of the Iraq Survey Group, Mr Charles Duelfer, reportedly finds that Iraq had small research and development programs for chemical and biological weapons.
US Deputy Secretary of State Mr Richard Armitage yesterday accused Iraqi insurgents of engaging in a cynical bid to undermine President Bush ahead of the November presidential election.
The claim, made by Mr Armitage in Warsaw during a tour of Europe, is likely to infuriate Democrats by identifying their aims with Iraqi insurgents.
The insurgents "are trying to influence the election against Mr Bush," Mr Armitage said. "It's quite obvious that they would like to raise the cost to President Bush. I think this is their cynical effort to do that and to somehow influence our elections, and they will fail."