Kerry slams Bush on military call-ups

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Friday accused the Bush administration of hiding a plan to mobilize more National Guard and reserve troops after the election, while glossing over a worsening conflict in Iraq.

“He won’t tell us what congressional leaders are now saying, that this administration is planning yet another substantial call-up of reservists and guard units immediately after the election,” Kerry said. “Hide it from people through the election, then make the move.”

The Bush campaign called the allegation of a secret plan “completely irresponsible … false and ridiculous.” The Pentagon said troop replacements would include some from National Guard and reserve units, and those expected to be sent to Iraq had been notified.

Kerry portrayed the president as out of touch with a serious and dangerous situation.

“With all due respect to the president, has he turned on the evening news lately? Does he read the newspapers?” Kerry said. “Does he really know what’s happening? Is he talking about the same war that the rest of us are talking about?”

Kerry spoke as the House’s top Democrat said the president should “stop being in denial” about escalating problems in Iraq.

“It’s clear that this administration didn’t know what it was getting into, or else they grossly misrepresented the facts to the American people,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “In either case, staying the course is not an option.”

Kerry said the president is avoiding hard truths about troops casualties, new insurgencies and troop shortages.

“He doesn’t tell us that with each passing day we’re seeing more chaos, more violence, more indiscriminate killings. He won’t tell us that the Pentagon itself has reported that entire regions of Iraq are now in the hands of terrorists and insurgents, where they weren’t before,” Kerry said. “He won’t tell us that, day by day, we’re running out of soldiers and that we’re now resorted to a backdoor draft of our reservists and our National Guard.”

In a statement, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the ranking member on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and a former Marine who served in Vietnam, said Friday that he has learned through conversations with Pentagon officials that beginning in November, “the Bush administration plans to call up large numbers of the military guard and reserves, to include plans that they previously had put off to call up the Individual Ready Reserve.”

The Bush campaign immediately denied the assertion about troop deployments.

Kerry’s campaign also intensified its criticism of the vice president and defense contractor Halliburton, the company Cheney used to lead, as an aspect of the administration’s management of the war.

“Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, has profited from the mess in Iraq at the expense of American troops and taxpayers,” Kerry said.

In a new television ad, the Democrat suggests that Cheney has conflicts of interest stemming from money he received from Halliburton under a deferred compensation agreement.

The Bush-Cheney campaign denied any conflicts of interest existed for Cheney, saying that deferred compensation agreements aren’t uncommon and that the vice president has no influence on contracts awarded to his former employer.