Guardian Unlimited (UK): "Bush 'exploited 9/11' in Iraq plea"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1517764,00.html

Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, said Mr Bush was trying to "exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq".

Senator John Kerry, Mr Bush's opponent in last November's election, said the speech represented the administration's third rationale for the 2003 invasion. "The first, of course, was weapons of mass destruction. The second was democracy, and now, tonight, it's to combat the hotbed of terrorism," he told CNN. "But most Americans are aware that the hotbed of terrorism never existed in Iraq until we got there."

Senator Joseph Biden, the Democrats' leading voice on foreign policy, predicted that the martial rhetoric would not rescue the president's standing in the polls, where Mr Bush has lower ratings than presidents Reagan or Clinton at this stage of their second terms. "I think the American people are a lot smarter than that," he said.

The address was also savaged abroad. A Labour MP, Lynne Jones, said any attempt to suggest that it was a response to the September 11 attacks was "absolute nonsense". "What they have ensured, in invading Iraq, is they have actually promoted al-Qaida's involvement in other countries, including Iraq."