Ron
2004-08-28 05:04:01 UTC
Kerry: Rumsfeld 'accountable' for Abu Ghraib
Presidential nominee renews call for 'No-CARB'--No Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld,
Bush--administration
By Jodi Wilgoren
New York Times
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2360004,00.html#
Thursday, August 26, 2004 - GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Teeing off two reports detailing abuses at
the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday renewed his call for Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign, citing the need for "accountability that runs
through the civilian command."
"It's not just the little person at the bottom who ought to pay the price of
responsibility," Kerry told union members at a steamfitters hall in Philadelphia before
heading to Green Bay. "Harry Truman had that sign on the desk and it said, 'The buck stops
here.' The buck doesn't stop at the Pentagon. And in this case it doesn't just stop with
any military personnel."
Speaking on the same day that the Army announced that 35 military intelligence soldiers
had been implicated in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, Kerry, the Democratic presidential
nominee, also called on President Bush to appoint another commission to probe the scandal,
focused on the chain of command and the Geneva Conventions.
But he did not address the substance of a separate report by a four-member panel headed by
James R. Schlesinger, a former defense secretary, except to note that it said Rumsfeld had
set the climate enabling the prison abuse. Instead, Kerry made a broader case for the
secretary's ouster "for failure to do what he should have done" prosecuting the Iraq war.
"The failures of judgment, the miscalculations, the failures of command, the
miscalculation about the numbers of troops needed to win the peace, the miscalculation
about not having a plan to win the peace, the miscalculation of sending troops over there
without adequate armor, with Humvees that aren't armored," Kerry clicked off his litany of
complaints.
"The overextension of the National Guard and the overextension of our reserves, the
redeployments of people, the lack of responsibility for what has been one of the most
severe miscalculations in any deployment of American forces in American history, I believe
lands in the civilian responsibility."
Rumsfeld, along with Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General John Ashcroft, is a
frequent foil for Democratic audiences. Kerry has been greeted on the campaign trail
several times by hand-lettered signs advocating a "No CARB diet: No Cheney, No Ashcroft,
No Rumsfeld, No Bush."
Pointing out that Kerry's resignation recommendation was recycled from last year, Steve
Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, called his seizing on the Abu Ghraib reports
"just the latest example of John Kerry's willingness to say whatever he believes will
benefit him politically."
The comments on the Abu Ghraib scandal came before a friendly labor audience at a forum
ostensibly devoted to economic issues, Kerry embraced the endorsement of 10 Nobel
laureates in economists, mostly well-known liberals.
It was his 26th day campaigning in the critical electoral battleground of Pennsylvania
since securing the nomination in March. He later headed to Green Bay, where he fell on the
ground to retrieve a fumble while running a few plays with the West High School football
squad.
Unlike at a fund-raiser here Tuesday night, when he fired back at critics of his war
record by saying he was proud of his military medals and of his anti-war activity upon
returning home, Kerry did not mention Vietnam or the veterans group questioning his war
record on Wednesday. But his supporters did.
A man in the audience in Philadelphia received a standing ovation for saying, "I think
it's shameful, the attacks on your service." And here in Green Bay, Bob Schmitz, 81, who
said he was a veteran of five World War II campaigns, praised Kerry's decorated combat
tours, saying: "I do not have a Purple Heart, I don't have a Silver Star, I don't have a
Bronze Star. I know what it takes to get those awards, and I think it's a damn shame with
Bush and his other two draft-dodging buddies cutting the feet out from under this
wonderful man."
Kerry did poke fun at the president, whose campaign has been accused of only inviting
volunteers to events and vetting their questions, by asking the audience whether anyone
had to sign a loyalty oath or was fed questions. The crowd hissed, "No!" but the steady
stream of softballs that followed could have come from a pitching machine.
There was the woman laid off after 19 years because of outsourcing who inquired about
importing drugs from Canada, a staple of Kerry's health-care plan. There was the man
asking why his unemployment benefits were not extended after 26 weeks, a signature
complaint of Kerry's. There was the soldier's father who presented Kerry with a pair of
red boxing gloves, "to thank you for fighting for the middle class."
And then there was the man from Montgomery County who sounded as if he was parroting
Kerry's stump speech as he detailed local factory closings and said his only question for
the candidate was, "What can we do for you?"
"Ninety-eight days," said Kerry. "Every day, every single one of you can win votes."
Reminded afterward that just 69 days remain until the election, an aide joked that Kerry
was preparing for a possible recount.
Presidential nominee renews call for 'No-CARB'--No Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld,
Bush--administration
By Jodi Wilgoren
New York Times
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2360004,00.html#
Thursday, August 26, 2004 - GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Teeing off two reports detailing abuses at
the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday renewed his call for Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign, citing the need for "accountability that runs
through the civilian command."
"It's not just the little person at the bottom who ought to pay the price of
responsibility," Kerry told union members at a steamfitters hall in Philadelphia before
heading to Green Bay. "Harry Truman had that sign on the desk and it said, 'The buck stops
here.' The buck doesn't stop at the Pentagon. And in this case it doesn't just stop with
any military personnel."
Speaking on the same day that the Army announced that 35 military intelligence soldiers
had been implicated in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, Kerry, the Democratic presidential
nominee, also called on President Bush to appoint another commission to probe the scandal,
focused on the chain of command and the Geneva Conventions.
But he did not address the substance of a separate report by a four-member panel headed by
James R. Schlesinger, a former defense secretary, except to note that it said Rumsfeld had
set the climate enabling the prison abuse. Instead, Kerry made a broader case for the
secretary's ouster "for failure to do what he should have done" prosecuting the Iraq war.
"The failures of judgment, the miscalculations, the failures of command, the
miscalculation about the numbers of troops needed to win the peace, the miscalculation
about not having a plan to win the peace, the miscalculation of sending troops over there
without adequate armor, with Humvees that aren't armored," Kerry clicked off his litany of
complaints.
"The overextension of the National Guard and the overextension of our reserves, the
redeployments of people, the lack of responsibility for what has been one of the most
severe miscalculations in any deployment of American forces in American history, I believe
lands in the civilian responsibility."
Rumsfeld, along with Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General John Ashcroft, is a
frequent foil for Democratic audiences. Kerry has been greeted on the campaign trail
several times by hand-lettered signs advocating a "No CARB diet: No Cheney, No Ashcroft,
No Rumsfeld, No Bush."
Pointing out that Kerry's resignation recommendation was recycled from last year, Steve
Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, called his seizing on the Abu Ghraib reports
"just the latest example of John Kerry's willingness to say whatever he believes will
benefit him politically."
The comments on the Abu Ghraib scandal came before a friendly labor audience at a forum
ostensibly devoted to economic issues, Kerry embraced the endorsement of 10 Nobel
laureates in economists, mostly well-known liberals.
It was his 26th day campaigning in the critical electoral battleground of Pennsylvania
since securing the nomination in March. He later headed to Green Bay, where he fell on the
ground to retrieve a fumble while running a few plays with the West High School football
squad.
Unlike at a fund-raiser here Tuesday night, when he fired back at critics of his war
record by saying he was proud of his military medals and of his anti-war activity upon
returning home, Kerry did not mention Vietnam or the veterans group questioning his war
record on Wednesday. But his supporters did.
A man in the audience in Philadelphia received a standing ovation for saying, "I think
it's shameful, the attacks on your service." And here in Green Bay, Bob Schmitz, 81, who
said he was a veteran of five World War II campaigns, praised Kerry's decorated combat
tours, saying: "I do not have a Purple Heart, I don't have a Silver Star, I don't have a
Bronze Star. I know what it takes to get those awards, and I think it's a damn shame with
Bush and his other two draft-dodging buddies cutting the feet out from under this
wonderful man."
Kerry did poke fun at the president, whose campaign has been accused of only inviting
volunteers to events and vetting their questions, by asking the audience whether anyone
had to sign a loyalty oath or was fed questions. The crowd hissed, "No!" but the steady
stream of softballs that followed could have come from a pitching machine.
There was the woman laid off after 19 years because of outsourcing who inquired about
importing drugs from Canada, a staple of Kerry's health-care plan. There was the man
asking why his unemployment benefits were not extended after 26 weeks, a signature
complaint of Kerry's. There was the soldier's father who presented Kerry with a pair of
red boxing gloves, "to thank you for fighting for the middle class."
And then there was the man from Montgomery County who sounded as if he was parroting
Kerry's stump speech as he detailed local factory closings and said his only question for
the candidate was, "What can we do for you?"
"Ninety-eight days," said Kerry. "Every day, every single one of you can win votes."
Reminded afterward that just 69 days remain until the election, an aide joked that Kerry
was preparing for a possible recount.