CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) accused President Bush yesterday night of a colossal error in judgment by ordering the invasion of Iraq. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein
the president shot back in campaign debate, adding his rival once said so himself.
I agree with him the president added sarcastically, emphasizing his campaign's contention that Kerry is prone to flip-flops.
In a 90-minute debate dominated by a war that has claimed more than 1,000 American lives, Kerry called the conflict a diversion in the broader struggle against terror and the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
The four-term Massachusetts senator said he could do a better job than Bush of protecting the nation against another Sept. 11-style attack and pledged to be strong and resolute in fighting terrorism.
But we also have to be smart ... and smart means not diverting our attention from the war on terror and taking it off to Iraq Kerry said.
This president
I don't know if he really sees what's happening over there
Kerry said of Bush, the two men standing behind lecterns 10 feet apart on a University of Miami debate stage.
Bush swiftly returned to his theme of Kerry as a man who changes his mind too often to be president.
He voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time. ... I don't think you can lead if you say wrong war
wrong time
wrong place. What message does that send to our troops? the Republican incumbent said.
More than 1,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, many of them by insurgents battling American forces. Not long before Bush and Kerry strode on stage, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major attack against the insurgents in Samarra. The U.S. command said government and police buildings had been secured in the city.
Both men used well-rehearsed lines during their face-to-face encounter, but this was the first time each had to listen to the criticism at close quarters.
Bush appeared perturbed when Kerry leveled some of his charges, scowling at times and looking away in apparent disgust at others. Kerry often took notes when the president spoke.
The 90-minute debate unfolded scarcely a month before the election, the first in a series of high-stakes encounters between the president and his Democratic challenger. The two men meet Oct. 8 in St. Louis and again on Oct. 13 in Tempe, Ariz.
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