Military Call Up

The real question is this -- is Bush letting election considerations impact his conduct in the war in Iraq? More specifically, does he know believe that we need more troops in Iraq than we currently have, but isn't willing to bring them there until after the election? If so, he's jeapordizing the lives of American troops for the purpose of increasing his chances of re-coronation. That's despicable.

``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.''

Republicans said Kerry was making a baseless charge to cover up his inconsistent positions on Iraq. ``Desperate candidates are generally not the most accurate sources of information on these issues,'' said New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, adding that the Senate defense spending committee that he serves on hasn't been notified of any such plans.


But Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., ranking member on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and a former Marine who served in Vietnam, said he had 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.''