Posted on 10/29/2004 2:10:11 AM PDT by ambrose
Kerry Camp Seizes on Probe of Halliburton
Friday October 29, 2004 9:16 AM
AP Photo OHLR108
By CALVIN WOODWARD and TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) - After days of making hay over lost Iraqi explosives, John Kerry's campaign is seizing on an expanding FBI probe of Halliburton Co. as evidence the administration gives ``special favors'' to special interests. President Bush received affirmation of his wartime leadership in a very public salute from his former war commander.
Fresh off a World Series win with Kerry's hometown Red Sox, Boston pitcher and Bush fan Curt Schilling was stumping for the president Friday in New Hampshire, with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the wings for an appearance with Bush later in Ohio.
But the stars that counted for Bush on Thursday were those earned by a lineup of retired military officers who joined him before a crowd of more than 10,000 in suburban Cleveland. Chief among the brass, retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw the combat in the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns, saluted Bush on the stage and said Kerry ``disrespects our troops.''
``God bless you, Tommy,'' Bush said as he took the microphone from him.
Kerry bolted the Midwest for Florida, his campaign sorting through a series of unwelcome developments for the other side.
This late in the game, any miscue is ripe for exploitation, and the Republicans committed a few - in one instance watching former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani explain himself after seeming to blame troops in Iraq for the missing explosives.
Kerry's running mate quickly went on the offensive when word came out that the FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid Iraq reconstruction contracts to Halliburton Co., the Houston-based company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
``At every turn for the past four years, George Bush and Dick Cheney gave out special favors and looked out for their special interest friends,'' Sen. John Edwards said.
He told 3,000 people at a Davenport, Iowa, rally, ``You cannot stand with Halliburton, big oil companies and the Saudi royal family and still stand up for the American people.''
The Bush campaign, seeing an unusual opportunity to make gains in exotic Democratic turf, said Thursday that Cheney would go to Hawaii for a rally Sunday night, a striking investment of time and travel for a state Republicans rarely think they can win.
``We are competitive in the state; this is a very close race,'' spokeswoman Anne Womack said, attributing growing GOP support to fears of terrorism in the tourist haven.
Democrats long have accused the Bush administration of showing favoritism to Halliburton, but had trouble making the charges stick after congressional investigators found the company got no-bid contracts in part because no other firms could do the work.
Still, the matter is far from closed. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show FBI agents sought permission this week to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded contracts worth billions of dollars to Halliburton subsidiary KBR.
Almost everywhere that counted, polls found the race exceptionally close. Internal campaign polls found it closer still.
New battleground surveys suggested Kerry was leading in Ohio and Michigan, Bush was ahead in Florida and the two were tied in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Oregon. Kerry was sending his daughter Alex to campaign in Hawaii, which Democrat Al Gore won by nearly 20 points in 2000.
Bush told USA Today he hasn't spent any time worrying that the campaign could end with no clear winner, as the 2000 race notoriously did.
``It's important that everybody vote, it's important that the elections be fair, and it's important that the election end on election night,'' he said in an interview published Friday.
Kerry, also speaking with USA Today on Thursday, said he believes the outcome will be known Tuesday night, ``just like I believed the Red Sox would win the World Series.''
Bush launched a stinging character assault on Kerry, telling thousands in Saginaw, Mich., ``a president cannot blow in the wind, a president must make tough decisions and stand by them.''
Bush advisers said their candidate was making gains in internal polls until Kerry's relentless attack on the disappearance of nearly 400 tons of explosives from an Iraqi weapons dump - an occurrence dating from the fall of Baghdad last year that both sides acknowledge is not fully understood.
Franks counterpunched, saying troops have destroyed 240,000 tons of Iraqi munitions, control an additional 162,000 tons and have cleared 10,000 ammunition and weapons sites. He said Kerry has no standing to label Bush as negligent on the missing cache.
``He cannot lead troops to victory in a war when he has made it perfectly clear that he does not support the cause,'' Franks said of Kerry.
The Democrat voted to authorize the president to go to war with Iraq but, through a series of labored explanations, said he did so based on flawed intelligence and Bush's assurances that he would build a true coalition and use his warmaking power as a last resort.
In an interview Thursday with ``NBC Nightly News,'' Kerry said that if he'd been president then, ``we might have gone to war,'' but he would have done so in a way that ensured ``the American people weren't carrying the burden and the entire world understood.''
Of Saddam Hussein's fate, Kerry said: ``It's absolutely impossible and irresponsible to suggest that if I were president, he wouldn't necessarily be gone. He might be gone. Because if he hadn't complied (with U.N. demands), we might have had to go to war.''
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Such a decisive leader.
BTTT
Uh, then why did you vote against the 1st Gulf War? If Brokaw had the guts, he would ask that question.
Ummm . . . Is it just me or does it seem like they're grabbing onto everything and anything? I'm not sure whether this indicates victory is at hand for them and they're keeping up the attack as to take no chances, or whether this is grasping desperation.
A real candidate, the kind they should have chosen, would be talking about his own programs and visions and changes with details, trying to motivate and enlighten people. All Kerry can do is react to each negative story that hits the news, or make something up to change a neutral event to a negative one. He is the worst candidate I've ever seen on any level. Is this the way he ran his Senate campaigns too?
The guy is a pure, grade A political whore.
"He might be gone."
Then I guess the current flap of the RDX/HMX nuclear triggers doesn't really matter, because Saddam would still control those. We feel safer now, don't we?
They are throwing every little piece of negative information at Bush. But I think it will backfire. And when it does, they will have lost even more credibility.
It's WINNING AT ANY COST.
Yep. They are in full panic mode, running around like chickens with their heads chopped fun.
So true, Bonnie. Sadly all Kerry has to offer in the way of programs and visions is a meaningless catch phrase - "I have a plan!" He's probably as tired of saying it as we are of hearing it.
Early am Boston CBS news... Halliburton FBI investigation trumpeted...'no bid contracts worth millions may have been awarded...Cheney used to be affiliated with Halliburton. Any favoritism would be illegal.' This reported after two Bush bashing ads aimed at MA.. The only thing diverting their attention from Bush bashing is the Red Sox.
So,kerry's saying Bush did the right thing, just didn't hold his tongue right?
The lame thing is it's all recycled stuff.
I'm awaiting Larry Flynt's Halloween appearence.
The woman that is the whistleblower: Bunnatine (Bunny) Greenhouse happens to be a black lady that gives PowerPoint presentations on the needs for minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses getting a "piece of the pie".
Yep it's all old news. And since Kerry can't win on his own merits, they have become desperate. Halliburton comes up about every two weeks and every time the public doesn't give a damn. It's just politics.
I'd wager that Kerry quote is incorporated into Bush's stump speech before day's end.
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