Security Shaping Campaign(have Bush policies has made us safer?)

[maddezmom]

Security Shaping Campaign
The debate over whether Bush's policies have made the country safer is fast becoming the pivotal issue in the November elections.
By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer
September 27, 2006


WASHINGTON — President Bush on Tuesday accused unnamed people of leaking part of a classified intelligence report on Iraq as an act of political sabotage, intended to "create confusion in the minds of the American people" in advance of the November elections.

Bush's assertion, along with his decision to release portions of the same report in response to the leaks, were the clearest signs yet that the ongoing debate over the Iraq war and its effect on U.S. security has grown to a fever pitch as Republicans and Democrats struggle to shape public opinion before election day.

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Bush's comments were the latest episode in a string of highly public and politically charged clashes over national security that both major parties believe have implications for the elections. They have included a fight over whether President Clinton took sufficient anti-terrorism steps during his time in office, disputes on Capitol Hill over interrogation and domestic wiretapping laws, and differing interpretations of the classified intelligence report.

With Congress entering its final days before adjourning for the fall election campaign, the two parties are fighting over which image will be uppermost in voters' minds on Nov. 7: that the U.S. has taken the terrorism challenge head-on by invading Iraq, or that the invasion and its bloody aftermath have left the United States less safe.

more:http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-terrorpol27sep27,1,3325375.story