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Fres
h from five more wins in the Democratic presidential race, US
Senator John Kerry fired off a fierce attack on President George W
Bush, yesterday, accusing him of misleading Americans over the Iraq
war.
Kerry, frontrunner in the race to take on Bush for the White House
in November, charged the administration with concocting a string of
untruths on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programmes in the
run-up to war.
"They obviously misused information and misled the American
people," said Kerry in an interview on MSNBC television.
"The administration itself promised us they would build an
international coalition, that they would honor the UN inspections
and they would go to war as a last resort".
"They did none of those things, I intend to hold the president
accountable for that in the course of this race".
Kerry's campaign for the Democratic nod picked up speed yesterday,
as he bagged five states, Missouri, Delaware, North Dakota, Arizona
and New Mexico to add to his victories last month in New Hampshire
and Iowa.
His main rival Senator John Edwards picked up his native South
Carolina, while former Nato commander Wesley Clark snatched his
first win of the campaign in Oklahoma, according to television
network projections.
Kerry's Democratic rivals have probed him for weakness over Iraq,
as he voted in the Senate to give the president the authority to go
to war.
But Kerry, who is touting his Vietnam War heroism to burnish his
national security credentials has hit back that Bush broke promises
on building international support before going to war.
He said his showing Tuesday reflected a "very significant desire
across the country from one coast to the other, from north to
south, for change in our country.
"People want new leadership," Kerry said on CNN.
"I am very, very gratified by the returns thus far".
Hundreds of jubilant Kerry supporters and campaign staff partied in
a hotel ballroom in downtown Seattle, where the veteran
Massachusetts lawmaker was already campaigning for a primary
election in Washington state on Saturday.
"This is our night," Kerry's campaign director Alixandria Wade
said, adding that the senator was "very happy".
"He's a winner," said local campaign worker Johanna Trobough.
Other delighted supporters buoyed by Kerry's victories, such as at
the Iowa caucus last month and in the New Hampshire primary,
included 25-year-old Dieter Bruning, crippled by the effects of the
Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent Orange.
"Kerry's been my hero all my life," the son of a Vietnam War
veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange, which was used to clear
enemy-inhabited jungles but had devastating effects on the children
of some of those exposed to it.
"I'm just here because I want to see him," he said of Kerry who
campaigned for official compensation for Agent Orange
victims.
Seattle law student Robert Kirscher summed up the hopes of many of
Kerry's fans following his latest leap forward in the contest for
the White House that will go to the wire in November.
"We will win this," Kirscher said, clutching a cold celebration
beer in both hands. – Sapa-AFP.
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