Kerry Blasts Bush’s Character in Speech to National Guard

LAS VEGAS — Sen. John F. Kerry on Thursday charged that the Bush administration has been “shortchanging” members of the National Guard, many of whom have been killed and wounded alongside regular troops in Iraq.

At the National Guard’s annual convention here, Kerry delivered one of his most pointed critiques to date of the war in Iraq and President Bush’s leadership. He also pledged to improve healthcare coverage, training and equipment for the tens of thousands of Guard members who have been pressed into full-time duty because of the conflict.

“Today, respectfully, I’d like to ask President Bush a simple question,” he said.

“When our guardsmen and -women are fighting the same war as our active duty troops, when they’re facing the same dangers and coming home in the same wheelchairs, stretchers and flag-draped coffins, how can we refuse to give them the same resources and respect we give our regular troops?”

Standing on the stage from which Bush addressed the group Tuesday, the Massachusetts senator also accused Bush of living in “a fantasy world of spin,” telling thousands of members of the National Guard gathered here that Americans deserve a president who is strong enough to lead and strong enough to tell the truth about the spiraling violence in Iraq.

He noted that more than 1,000 U.S. military men and women have died in Iraq — 100 of them members of the Guard — but that Bush did not mention it in his own speech to the group two days earlier.

The president “didn’t tell you that with each passing week, our enemies are actually getting bolder — that Pentagon officials report that entire regions of Iraq are now in the hands of terrorists and extremists,” Kerry said.

The Democratic presidential nominee received several standing ovations for promising improved benefits and equipment for the National Guard, but he heard only silence — and a boo — as he accused Bush of dishonesty and a failure to lead.

In a television interview with a local Fox affiliate after the speech, Kerry said he was “very gratified” by his reception at the military convention and that the audience had listened intently and respectfully, even though many of those present did not agree with his proposals or support his candidacy.

“I know there were some people in there who didn’t agree with me, and therefore I’m even more respectful of that,” Kerry said. “A lot of people came up to me afterward and said, ‘Boy, I’m voting for you, I’m with you, you told the truth’ and that it was important to have the courage to come here and do it.”

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, made no mention Thursday of the current controversy surrounding Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard 30 years ago. The issue involves questions about whether Bush, whose father was then a congressman, had been given preferential treatment so that he could avoid combat and whether he had fulfilled his military commitment.

In his speech to the convention Tuesday, the president was warmly applauded when he said he was proud to be one of 19 men who have served in the National Guard and the White House both.

Kerry decried the mobilization of the Guard “in record numbers for extended lengths of time” because of a war gone bad, charging that they cannot even tell their families when they’ll be coming home from Iraq because the president made miscalculations about the war and its aftermath.

Kerry framed his critique as a failure of character, honesty and leadership, lashing out at Bush for ignoring “the best advice of America’s own military” and saying the president lacked the strength to level with the nation about the realities of Iraq.

“I believe [Bush] failed the fundamental test of leadership,” Kerry said. “He failed to tell you the truth. You deserve better. The commander in chief must level with the troops and the nation. I intend to do that on the good days and bad days.”

Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, called Kerry’s speech an example of “transparent political opportunism.”

“Today’s speech by John Kerry offered pessimism, defeatism and Monday morning quarterbacking from a candidate who voted for the war in Iraq and then voted against funds for the troops he sent into harm’s way,” Schmidt said in a written statement.

On Thursday, 20 members of Congress who were either veterans or served in the National Guard wrote to Kerry demanding an apology for what they described as his and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe’s comments “degrading the commitment” of the men and women who have served in the Guard.

“When Senator Kerry attacks President Bush’s National Guard record as a refusal to serve in the U.S. Military, he is degrading the commitment of all the proud men and women who have served and are serving today,” the letter said.