Cheney 'not straight' with US
2004-10-06 07:48
Cleveland - In a debate at close quarters, Democratic Senator John Edwards bluntly accused vice-president Dick Cheney of "not being straight with the American people" when it comes to Iraq.
"I'm confident that in fact we'll get the job done," insisted the vice-president, who said reconstruction efforts are continuing and elections are scheduled for January. Cheney said it is essential to view the war in Iraq as part of a global war on terror.
The 90-minute debate format on Tuesday night encouraged give-and-take, and both men went at it eagerly.
Cheney noted that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry had opposed the first Persian Gulf War, and said it was "part of a consistent pattern over time of always being on the wrong side of the fence."
No link between Saddam and 9/11
Edwards said Cheney had previously suggested ties between the terrorists responsible for the September 11 2001 attacks and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "You've gone around the country suggesting that there is some connection. There is not," Edwards said.
Cheney, 63, and Edwards, 51, sat a few feet apart around a semicircular table on a stage at Case Western Reserve University. Gwen Ifill of the Public Broadcasting Service, moderator for the evening, faced them.
It was the only debate of the campaign for Cheney and his Democratic opponent.
Kerry and President George W Bush debated for 90 minutes last week in an encounter widely viewed as a victory for the Democratic challenger. The four-term Massachusetts senator has gained ground in the polls in the days since, narrowing the gap with the president in some nationwide surveys and moving into a statistical tie in others.
Bush and Kerry will debate twice more, on Friday in St Louis and October 13 in Arizona.
Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat, accused the Bush administration of the "height of hypocrisy," saying it had sent troops into war without sufficient body armour and by lobbying to cut their pay.
'Don't has the qualities'
Cheney said of Kerry, "I don't believe he has the qualities needed to be commander in chief."
Edwards also charged that Cheney, as the chief executive officer of Halliburton, pushed to lift US sanctions against Iran, did business with countries that were "sworn enemies of the United States," and that Halliburton paid millions of dollars in fines for providing false information "just like Enron and Ken Lay," the now indicted former chief.
Cheney accused Edwards of "trying to throw up a smoke screen" and said "there's no substance to the charges."
Kerry and Edwards have sought to link Cheney to Halliburton as a symbol of corporate greed and insider connections. Halliburton has reported making more than $7.6 billion so far from US government contracts in Iraq.
- AP