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Powell challenges Kerry on Iraq, Tora Bora
Secretary of State Colin Powell ventured into the thick of the presidential campaign Friday by challenging John Kerry's attacks on President Bush's leadership of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. At a news conference in Atlanta, Powell disagreed with the Kerry's contention in Thursday night's presidential debate that Bush missed an opportunity to capture terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. He also dismissed the Democratic candidate's suggestion that Powell had been compelled to apologize for asserting at the United Nations that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had amassed hidden stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.Then, in Washington, Powell took on Kerry over his assertion that Bush had sidestepped U.S. allies in going to war in Iraq and in his overall approach to world problems. "I don't accept that characterization," Powell said in response to a reporter's question as Powell escorted the foreign minister of Belgium, Karel De Gucht, from the State Department after a 30-minute meeting. He said, however, referring partly to Belgium's fierce opposition to Bush's decision to go to war last year, "It doesn't mean we get a blank check from (the allies)." The leader of the al-Qaida terror network had been cornered in the mountains of Afghanistan, but instead of using well-trained U.S. forces to kill him the administration "outsourced" the assignment to Afghan warlords, Kerry said. Only a week earlier, those warlords had been fighting the United States, he said. Powell, in Atlanta, called that allegation "a stretch." Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-10-02 |
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