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Sen. John Kerry is challenging President Bush to immediately begin taking steps to stop increasing violence in Iraq as he tries to offer a persuasive alternative to Bush's management of Iraq's reconstruction and the overall war on terror.
Kerry was laying out a four-part plan to bring peace to Iraq during a speech Monday at New York University, while arguing that Bush has not been honest about the rationale for war or its costs, according to Kerry campaign officials.
(a pickler special)
And, Bush counters it this afternoon:
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President Bush is striking back at John Kerry's increasingly aggressive criticism on Iraq, asking Americans to stick with him on the war in the face of surging violence there.
But Bush is facing a fresh wave of attacks from members of his own party, including an influential senator who said Sunday the administration's "incompetence" was to blame for the country's slow recovery from war.
Kerry has been lambasting Bush in recent days on the cost of the Iraq war in lives and dollars, and the Democratic senator planned a new assault Monday. The Democrat "will lay out his plan for cleaning up the mess George Bush has made in Iraq," said campaign spokesman Phil Singer.
In a speech in New Hampshire on Monday afternoon, Bush was countering by saying the nation needs "consistency" in its leadership - not a change in the middle of the war, and not a series of contradictions, said campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel.
"Our troops deserve better than to hear Kerry's campaign pushing pessimism and lack of faith in the mission," Stanzel said.
(thanks to samela)