The Iowa Daily Report -- Friday, January 9, 2004

* QUOTABLE:

“We as Democrats must take care that the tenor of the debate doesn’t become so inflamed that it turns people off. We have to be very careful about that,” Dennis Kucinich said. “I think voters are becoming increasingly sensitized to that, which is why . . . we have to be careful about anger.

“Anger is not sustainable. You have to really provide people with hope. There is no crossover from anger to hope,” Kucinich said, saying a short time later, “This is where I think Democrats make a mistake — in just trying to tap anger. Where does it go? What do you stand for beyond that?”

"Dean has helped create this mood of self-righteous delusion," says New Republic. "Only Lieberman — the supposed candidate of appeasement — is challenging his party, enduring boos at event after event, to articulate a different, better vision of what it means to be a Democrat." --writes the New Republic in endorsing Sen. Joe Lieberman.

“Although he occasionally says something refreshing, "it is hard to like Howard Dean. He seems as big a trimmer as Bill Clinton, and as bold and talented in that area as Mr. Clinton. He says America is no safer for the capture of Saddam Hussein, and then he says he didn't say it. He floats a rumor that the Saudis tipped off President Bush before 9/11, and then he says he never believed it. When he is caught and has to elaborate, explain or disavow, he dissembles with Clintonian bravado. This is not a good sign." -- writes Peggy Noonan.

"Two years ago, it was right for President Bush to celebrate the promise of the No Child Left Behind Act. Today, it's disingenuous," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who helped Bush move the bill through Congress but now is one of the president's strongest critics on the topic. "It's way too soon for the `Mission Accomplished' banner on No Child Left Behind."

"It seems like the race is tightening," said Doug Sosnik, political director in the Clinton White House. "While Dean remains the solid front-runner, the race has a very fluid feeling to it."

"I can't stand there and listen to everyone else's opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world," said Howard Dean about Iowans and the Iowa Caucuses in an old television interview.

"There are not better people in the world," the congressman said. "They are not dominated by special interests in any way," said Dick Gephardt about Iowa Caucus participants.

“By any measure, the charge that we are less safe under George W. Bush than we were before is simply not true,” said Bill Bennett, “Because of President Bush and no President before him, Osama bin Laden is dead, on the run, or in a hole of his own.”

“Idealism is what led me to the Democratic Party,” Bill Bennett said. “Nothing was more important then in the Democratic Party. To the Democrats of today, nothing is less important. It is a shame. And even though I am a Republican, I take no pleasure in it.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Mr. Dean is "having enough difficulty on taxes and Iraq, he should stay away from theology."

"I doubt that you're going to find that conservatives believe they have a safe harbor with any of the Democrats," US Representative Elton Gallegly said.

“Instead of looking in the mirror and trying to figure out what is wrong with them, Democrats vent at Bush. It's a disastrous strategy” -- says Mort Kondracke, Executive Editor of Roll Call.

“The trouble is the unDean is different everywhere you look. In the Granite State, Laura and co. reckon the unDean is Kerry. In Iowa, it’s Dick Gephardt, the soporific 1970s union throwback. In Arizona, it’s General Wesley Clark, the pantomime stalking-horse entered by the Clintons. In South Carolina, it seems to be the Revd Al Sharpton, the distinguished race-baiter. And all these states are voting in the next month, which means, no matter how well he does, each unDean could be undone by some other unDean a couple of days later.” -- writes Mark Steyn in the American Spectator.

"I've raised, I think, in the neighborhood of $18 million," Dick Gephardt said in response to a question at a meeting with local Democrats. "We think that's enough to get through these early primary states."

"I had listened to him [Howard Dean] on TV, and I thought he sounded pretty good," Jenny Briggs, an Iowa State University graduate said, standing in the town square in Newton, Iowa. "It turned out he was too good to be true."

"He's running against the ghosts of caucuses past," said Joe Shannahan, a veteran Democratic activist said about Dick Gephardt.

'People are comparative shopping right now, and in the case of some candidates there may even be some buyer's remorse and people are beginning to look around,' he said. 'I think there's an opportunity over these next weeks to define what this race is really all about -- and I'm a fighter,'" said John Kerry.

"I don't understand regional religion. Where you are holy in some states and unholy in others. I think that I preach everywhere I go. I don't talk religion in one state and drop it in another... I don't get the Holy Ghost on the plane to South Carolina. I take it with me to South Carolina," said Al Sharpton.

* TODAY’S OFFERINGS:

Howard Dean: *Disses Iowa Caucuses
*Deanies fired for misconduct
*Dirty tricks? *Changing strategy
*Gun record *Harkin’s endorsement

Dick Gephardt: *Dean’s Enron
*Gephardt’s problems

John Kerry: *Yes to marijuana *Dean’s Enron

Wesley Clark: *Says he’s Superman
*Hurting Kerry in NH *Gender gap
*Out of the limelight

Joe Lieberman: *Presses Dean on taxes

Dennis Kucinich: *Peace candidate

Just Politics: *Caucus strategy
*The Republicans are coming
*Poll watching *NH tracking poll

* CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES:

Dean disses Iowa Caucuses

I have spent nearly two years here in Iowa, talking to Iowans and campaigning in all 99 counties," Dean said. "I believe it's time to stand together, in common purpose, to take our country back and the Iowa caucus is where it all begins."

That was Howard Dean’s response to the revelation Dean was critical of the Iowa Caucuses when he was Governor of Vermont. Dean made the comments on a Canadian television program on which he was a regular guest while governor of Vermont. The program theme explored the differences between Canada and the United States.

The Dean statement on the Canadian television program that is causing him trouble is:

"If you look at the caucuses system, they are dominated by the special interests, in both sides, in both parties. The special interests don't represent the centrist tendencies of the American people. They represent the extremes."

The resulting flap from this latest Dean verbal revelation has resulted in Iowa’s Democratic leaders coming to the defense of the Iowa caucuses:

"The Iowa caucuses are dominated by regular Iowans who are concerned about bread and butter issues that all Americans care about," Gordon Fischer, the state's Democratic chairman said.

"The governor believes the Iowa caucuses remain a good proving ground for candidates as they take their messages into living rooms and around kitchen tables of real people," said Amanda Crumley, spokeswoman for Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat who is neutral in the race.

Dean’s opponents were less kind…

Which Howard Dean are Iowans going to vote for — the one who insults them, or the one who will be soon releasing yet another clarifying statement?" said Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter… She also stated, Dean "is going to extremes of his own to win over Iowa voters."

"I can't understand his comments about special interests dominating the caucuses," Dick Gephardt said. "Who are these special interests?"

Dean used his patented line ‘the voters have the power’ and he is with them to respond to criticism over the comments, "On caucus night, I am confident that we'll have terrific turnout that reflects a new energy and a new belief that people have the power to take back their country,"

Dean workers fired for misconduct

The Dean campaign on Thursday was forced to fire two low-level volunteers who went into Kerry's campaign offices posing as average voters. The two workers went into Kerry’s office trying to glean information on the Kerry campaign. John Kerry's Iowa state director, John Norris, said that two out-of-state Dean supporters posed as undecided Iowans and tried to get information about campaign voter calling scripts from a Kerry office in Creston. Kerry's campaign reacted with outrage. Dean aides said the campaign adheres to strict ethical codes and that the two volunteers were dismissed.

Dean planning dirty tricks?

Richard Gephardt's campaign manager, Steve Murphy, said a Dean field organizer told a Gephardt staff member that some of the expected 3,500 out-of-state Dean supporters coming to Iowa to turn out the caucus vote would try to infiltrate the process.

"It has come to our attention that your campaign in Iowa is engaged in an effort to violate caucus rules and send out-of-state supporters to pose as Iowa residents and caucus in cities and towns across the state," Murphy said in a letter to Trippi.

Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi denied the accusation and told Murphy in a letter that "sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason that people have stopped participating in the political process."

State party officials sent a warning to the campaigns in November after a Dean staff member in Vermont called and asked if a hotel address was sufficient grounds to participate. At the time, Dean officials dismissed the significance of the call and attributed it to a teen-age intern.

We understand that the grassroots enthusiasm this campaign has generated and the over 3,500 volunteers who are canvassing in Iowa this month is threatening to Dick Gephardt,” Trippi said.

Except for a few urban precincts it would be very difficult for outsiders to infiltrate an Iowa caucus meeting. Candidates not currently registered must sign a separate sheet that would automatically draw attention to them. They are also required to publicly declare who they are for. Once again, this would make them subject to scrutiny by opposing campaigns. Anyone attempting to sneak into a precinct caucus meeting is subject to criminal prosecution.

Dean changing strategy

Dean’s misstatements and opponents’ attacks have the campaign rethinking its tactics. Dean's staff and supporters are moving into the front line of defense for Dean. This allows him to avoid the media.  Dean’s appearances are left to staged events, such as this evenings appearance with former Vice President Al Gore and friendly audiences. However Dean’s frank talk is what propelled his candidacy and his political staff’s counters to criticism do not carry the weight of a true Dean response.

"It's not so much the attacks that are hurting us. None of this is sticking," argued Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi. "But they are hurting us because we're not getting our message out — standing up to President Bush and health care — because it's hard to do that when you're constantly answering charges."

Dean’s gun record

The Washington Post covers Howard Dean’s record on gun control. The gun owners of Vermont have always worried about what Dean would do if he had to protect their rights, according to the story. One of the reasons is the way he sent back a questionnaire they sent:

On a candidate questionnaire Gun Owners of Vermont sent out in July 1998, Dean left four of the five questions blank, scrawling at the bottom: "I support leaving the gun laws in Vermont alone as I have for the past 14 years. I, as always, reserve the right to change my position if compelling evidence warrants it. I have not seen such evidence in the past 14 years."

Like so many issues it is hard to tell what Dean would really do if it came down to it:

"He speaks out of both sides of his mouth on this stuff," said Sam Frank, former sheriff of Orange County, Vt. He and several other police officers across the country sued to prevent the government from requiring them to perform background checks on gun purchasers, as mandated by the Brady federal gun law. One case succeeded in the Supreme Court in 1997.

"Even after we won, he was slow to stop the checks, and I had to write letters to the attorney general," Frank said. He and other gun rights activists say Dean avoided taking a public position on controversial gun issues. When the City Council in Montpelier, Vermont's capital, voted to ban the carrying of loaded weapons, gun rights advocates asked the governor to declare he would veto any bill that authorized the change.

Harkin’s endorsement

"He's the Harry Truman of our generation," Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said in interview with The Associated Press. "Howard Dean is really the kind of plain-spoken Democrat we need."

Harkin's support will give Dean the backing of the state's most durable Democratic politician, and a man whose organization can prove a vital asset on caucus night Jan 19. Harkin helped swing the election to Al Gore against Bill Bradley. This is a big blow to Dick Gephardt and the industrial unions backing him. Those unions are long time supporters of Harkin.

The Des Moines Register just this morning ran this story on the Harkin endorsement watch:

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said he would decide whether to throw his coveted endorsement to any of the candidates by the weekend.

Harkin, who had been weighing backing Dean, said Thursday the longer he waited to decide, the less likely an endorsement would be.

Harkin said he didn't think his endorsement would make Democrats who have made up their minds rethink their decisions. But it might influence those who remain strategically uncommitted, awaiting signs of momentum.

Harkin, interviewed on CNN, did not deny he came close to a Dean endorsement but then held back under intense pressure from labor leaders backing Gephardt. "I've been called by a lot of people, as you can imagine," Harkin said.

Gephardt: Dean’s Enron

Rep. Dick Gephardt issued the following statement on Howard Dean's new television ad in Iowa on Enron.

"Governor Dean's attacks on Enron ring hollow in light of the fact that he lured them to Vermont with promises of generous tax breaks and no public disclosure. Howard Dean's actions doling out generous tax cuts to Enron and other large corporations will not allow him to draw the clear contrast with President Bush that our party needs to win in the fall. We need a candidate who can challenge George Bush on his ties to the special interests. When it comes to Enron, Howard Dean will not be able to do that."

Gephardt’s problems

The Associated Press reports on Gephardt’s challenges going into the last days of the campaign -- not the least of which is Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa’s endorsement of Howard Dean:

The challenge for Gephardt, with just over a week before the caucuses, is remaining focused on his campaign proposals while coming under fire, said strategist Jeff Link. It's a political high-wire act as candidates try to stay on message while ensuring that attacks don't go unanswered.

"It's easy to lose focus when you're pressed on multiple fronts," said Link. "The worst thing you can do going into an election is lose the daily focus."

Kerry: yes to marijuana

Sen. John Kerry told an audience of college students he opposes federal prosecutions in medical marijuana cases in states that have legalized the practice, pledging to reverse Bush administration policy on the issue. Kerry also stated that he would reverse the ban on student aide for students convicted of drug use according to the Manchester Union Leader:

Asked whether he would repeal federal law that denies federal student loan assistance for individuals convicted of drug offenses, he said it would depend on the offense.

“If the offense is use, yes,” he said. But “if the offense is selling, no.”

Kerry: Dean’s Enron

Sen. John Kerry states Howard Dean has launched a new television ad where Dean says Washington has prioritized companies over workers -- specifically Enron. Dean's ad claims "Washington" has allowed these corporations to gouge consumers and hurt their workers. The ad is scheduled to run in Boston and Greenville. Kerry said that the irony is that as Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean gave tax breaks to huge corporations including Enron:

"As Governor, Howard Dean supported tax breaks for Enron, formed his own secret energy commission, and bowed to big utility companies. He wants to bring the Dean-Cheney model to Washington. That's not change. We already have that," said Kerry spokesperson Stephanie

Clark says he’s Superman

Wesley Clark, thinking he must be Clark Kent, stated there would be no 9-11 while he was President, according to the Concord Monitor:

Wesley Clark said yesterday the two greatest lies of the last three years are that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks couldn't have been prevented and that another attack is inevitable… He said a Clark administration would protect America in the future.

"If I'm president of the United States, I'm going to take care of the American people," Clark said in a meeting with the Monitor editorial board. "We are not going to have one of these incidents."

Not everyone was filled with confidence after Clark made his comments:

Told of Clark's remarks, Dr. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who appeared with Nunn, said he was troubled by Clark's certainty. "I'm looking to leaders today who are not out there trying to unnecessarily scare the public. But I think it's equally dangerous to try to reassure the public," said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease and Research at the University of Minnesota. "We have to tell the truth, and the truth of the matter is that America still remains vulnerable."

Clark hurting Kerry in NH

Sen. John Kerry’s biggest problem could be Wesley Clark back in New Hampshire, according to the LA Times:

Crowds have grown substantially at Clark events, with many turning into standing-room-only affairs. At Concord High School Thursday night, more than 700 people showed up despite below-zero temperatures.

"I think there's something to it," political scientist J. Mark Wrighton said. "The race is tightening."

But Wrighton, head of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said he was not convinced Clark's support was coming at the expense of Dean's. The bigger loser may be Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, who has slipped into third place behind Clark in at least one opinion poll.

Clark has gender gap

"There is a gender gap," said Geoffrey Garin, who heads the Clark campaign's polling operation, though Mr. Garin did not give out numbers. The NY Times reports on how Wesley Clark acts differently in front of women than he does in a mixed or men only group:

“Generally women have not had major experience with military people, much less as a candidate for president," the aide said. "We've had to educate them not only on where he stands on domestic issues but on the fact that he's not just talking about the war and military issues."

To do so, the campaign has recruited a network of women who speak in a weekly conference call, exchanging ideas about how to win over women with endorsements, advertisements and events. A 17-minute biographical film by Linda Bloodworth, which is being shown weekly on a New Hampshire television station, has numerous references to General Clark's wife and his work with women in the military, portraying him as a champion of family issues.

Out of the limelight

"In a multi-candidate race like this you lose much less," said Anita Dunn, an adviser to Democratic candidate Bill Bradley in 2000. "In Iowa, the top three candidates aren't necessarily the same as in New Hampshire." Clark’s campaign seems to have confusion and suffering buyer’s remorse about skipping Iowa. And the voluntary Clark effort in Iowa is getting outside help whether it likes it or not, according to the Des Moines Register:

Bud Jackson, who worked briefly as a consultant to the Clark campaign in November, said he has formed a political action committee called the General Fund to help boost Clark's prospects in Iowa. Jackson said his efforts are entirely separate from the official Clark campaign.

In addition, Clark has sent mixed signals as to whether he will make a visit to Iowa before Jan. 19. On Wednesday Clark told the Associated Press that was a "misreading," and "I can't go back to Iowa. There's no time." Meanwhile, Kym Spell, a spokeswoman for Clark at campaign headquarters in Arkansas, said on Thursday Clark may make an Iowa stop. State Democrat Party Chairman Gordon Fischer said Clark would be welcomed back. "It's never too late to forgive a mistake," Fischer said.

It’s bad enough that the media’s focus on Iowa is leaving Sen. Joe Lieberman and Wesley Clark off in the shadows. But now (with the spotlight returning to Clark), we’re not sure which mark he is going to be on -- Iowa, or New Hampshire? However, both the Clark and Lieberman campaigns agree on the Iowa finish that would best suit their strategy — a narrow Dean win over Gephardt, with Kerry far behind.

Lieberman presses Dean on taxes

The Manchester Union Leader reports Sen. Joe Lieberman continues to press for advantage over Dean on the issue of taxes on the middle-class:

“If he passed his tax program instead of mine, he would take from the average middle class family of four here in Manchester $27,000 a year that I would leave in their bank account,” said Joe Lieberman.

He also stated:

“Unlike my plan . . . Wes Clark would give a tax cut to just a quarter of taxpayers, and Howard Dean would raise taxes on the middle class,” Lieberman said.

Kucinich the peace candidate

“If we’re there for five years, we’re talking about a trillion dollars. I don’t think it’s in our national interest to occupy Iraq,” Dennis Kucinich states.

Kucinich told the Manchester Union Leader it would have been better, he added, had United Nations inspectors continued their work looking for weapons of mass destruction. Kucinich continued his isolationist views when it came to the subject of trade as well:

His first obligation on trade, he said, would be to stabilize the nation’s manufacturing economy. And his first act in office, Kucinich said, would be to initiate withdrawal from the World Trade Organization and the NAFTA trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico. He would instead return to negotiating trade agreements on a bilateral basis.

Caucus strategy

Iowa Democratic Caucuses are about the election of delegates to the County Convention; where more delegates are elected to District and State Conventions; where delegates are elected to the National Democratic Convention. The process of electing those delegates on Jan. 19 is about creating a viable group that qualifies to receive one of the delegates that are allotted to their precinct. The allocation of delegates is based on dividing the number of Democrats in the county into the size of the Democrat County Convention. Then each precinct’s number of registered democrats is divided by that number and that is how many delegates will be elected from that precinct.

One of the challenges for the candidates is to get their supporters to recruit from other non-viable groups or to join other groups, in order to better position their candidate in the results.

Several campaigns are developing ways to swing support in some of the 1,990 precincts on caucus night -- to benefit their own candidate or to hurt someone else’s, according to a Boston Globe story about the caucuses:

At headquarters for Howard Dean, advisers are working on an automated system that would let precinct captains dial in early tallies. Knowing how Dean is faring statewide would allow the campaign to advise its supporters to throw Dean votes in some precincts to another candidate.

Dean’s campaign is not the only campaign playing that game:

"It's fair to say every campaign is going to have a strategy for caucus night" of how to manipulate votes once an early tally has taken place, said Rob Berntsen, the Iowa caucus director for Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. "It's going to be a very, very important period. . . . We've got to be prepared."

The Republicans are coming

After a year of Democrats blasting away in Iowa and pounding the airwaves with millions of dollars of propaganda, the Republicans are dispatching troops to spin the Iowa Caucus outcome on Jan. 19. Among the Republicans who will be in Iowa that day: former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Marc Racicot, the chairman of the president’s re-election committee; Ken Mehlman, his campaign manager; Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas; and Mary Matalin -- an adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Sen. John McCain and the troops will also be in New Hampshire on the run up to the Jan. 27 primary vote as well. Beginning Saturday, Jan. 24 through Tuesday, Jan. 27 -- the day of the primary -- Bush-Cheney Campaign Chairman Marc Racicot and Ken Mehlman, Bush campaign manager, said they plan to attend varying Republican get-out-the-vote events around Manchester. Also scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire are Bush’s sister, Doro Bush Koch, New York Gov. George Pataki, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Mary Matalin and Bush-Cheney New England Regional Chairman Jim Tobin.

Poll watching

Des Moines TV KCCI-Channel 8 news poll shows Dean with support from 29 percent of likely caucus-goers, followed by 25 percent for Gephardt, 18 percent for Kerry and 8 percent for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Thirteen percent of those polled said they were still undecided about whom they will support in the Jan. 19 caucuses. The poll has a 5 percent margin of error.

N.H. tracking poll

Howard Dean is reported to be at 35 percent of likely primary voters in the New Hampshire poll. Clark was at 18 percent while Kerry had 12 percent. Joe Lieberman at 8 percent, Dick Gephardt at 6 percent, John Edwards at 3 percent, Dennis Kucinich at 2 percent, and Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton at less than 1 percent, and 16 percent said they were undecided.

* ON THE BUSH BEAT:

Conservative problems

President Bush is feeling the heat of Conservatives and it is hard to tell where their protest will erupt. The latest move by President Bush regarding amnesty and work permits for three years for immigrants has conservatives howling. Here is what Wesley Pruden, editor in chief of The Times, writes:

“The president can't blame his critics for thinking that this is an amnesty born of election-year expediency. His political gurus are obsessed with trading his most reliable friends for the prospect of winning minority voters. They want to clear out the big tent to make it available to those who don't yet want a place in it.”

Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, said of immigration, "It's not a vote-moving issue for any bloc of the center-right coalition. People vote on guns. They vote on taxes. They vote on being prolife."

It is the issue of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage where Bush may find the greatest need to come back to his party’s conservative roots. This might assuage a number of conservative Congressional members who are upset over the growing budget deficit.

Still there are the blue-collar Democrats -- the Reagan Democrats -- who vote in the American Legion Halls to protest the immigration proposal. US Representative Elton Gallegly, a conservative Republican, said the president's immigration proposal could hurt him not only among conservatives but also with blue-collar "Reagan Democrats," who might feel threatened by having millions of guest workers in the labor force.

The President’s best defense is: what are you going to do with the millions of immigrants who are already here? Are you going to pay to send them back? How many billions would that cost? Is it possible? The Wall Street Journal opinion puts it this way:

“Like it or not, the U.S. is part of an integrating regional and world economy in which the movement of people across borders is inevitable. Despite nearly 20 years of efforts to "crack down on the borders," the immigrants keep coming--an estimated eight million without legal U.S. documents today. As long as the per capita income differential between the U.S. (nearly $32,000) and Mexico ($3,679) continues to be so wide, we can't stop immigrants short of means that will violate our traditions, our conscience, and our national interest.”

U.N. return

The Bush administration is launching an effort to persuade the United Nations to return to Iraq in coming months and to support the U.S. plan for transferring governing power to Iraqis by June 30th. The Washington Post reports the administration will also seek to enlist the U.N. chief's help in heading off an effort by influential Shiite Muslim leaders, including the cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, to renegotiate the plan for political transition in Iraq. The current plan calls for a series of regional caucuses to appoint a provisional government this summer. Sistani wants elections conducted to create that government:

Abdel Aziz Hakim, a Shiite political figure who served as rotating president of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council last month, asked Annan in a confidential Dec. 29 letter to send a U.N. team to Iraq to determine whether national elections could be organized before creation of a provisional government. He also appealed to Annan to help negotiate the terms for the country's political transition in the event that elections were deemed "unfeasible."

* THE CLINTON COMEDIES:

They did too have WMD

Former US president Bill Clinton said in October during a visit to Portugal that he was convinced Iraq had weapons of mass destruction up until the fall of Saddam Hussein, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said. The AFP reports that the Portuguese Prime Minister offered this account of Clinton’s statement:

"When Clinton was here recently he told me he was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime," he said in an interview with Portuguese cable news channel SIC Noticias.

 

homepage