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For Immediate Release August 24, 2004
WHY WOULD ANYONE BELIEVE THEM? INTEL ATTACK HYPOCRISY EXPOSED IN NEW REPORT
President Bush has viciously and falsely attacked John Kerry for budget cuts on intelligence, cuts his campaign has called “radical” and “extreme.” Yet, a new report today reveals that Porter Goss, who President Bush called “the right man” to lead America’s intelligence community, championed legislation to cut intelligence funding far greater than anything John Kerry supported. President Bush has been caught in yet another instance of hypocritically misleading Americans about John Kerry’s record.
Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: “George Bush has turned the act of misleading into an art form. He has spent millions attacking positions that his own CIA nominee has taken on key intelligence issues. It’s obvious that even George Bush doesn’t believe these attacks or else he wouldn’t have asked Porter Goss to head the CIA. The Bush credibility gap grows wider and wider with each day that goes by. Why should anyone believe him anymore?”
BUSH CAMPAIGN HAS ATTACKED KERRY FOR INTEL RECORD…
Bush Campaign Called Kerry “Radical.” “John Kerry's campaign trail amnesia extended today to his record of proposing intelligence cuts totaling $7.5 billion while serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee, cuts so radical even his fellow Democrats criticized them” (Bush-Cheney '04 Release, 7/16/04)
· Cheney Hypocritically Assailed Kerry for “Extreme” Intelligence Cuts. The Bush campaign has spent the better part of two weeks blasting the Kerry for his record on intelligence, including accusing him of gutting intelligence funding. Cheney noted: “(Kerry) also tried very hard, in the aftermath of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, to gut the intelligence budget. He put forward two measures to cut the intelligence budget by $7.5 billion… so extreme and so far out of the mainstream -- that even his fellow Democrats refused to support it. (Cheney, Nevada, 8/15/04)
BUT NEW REPORT REVEALS – GOSS CUT INTEL MUCH MORE THAN KERRY’S PROPOSAL,
Goss Sponsored Legislation to Cut Intelligence by 20 Percent. The Washington Post reported today: “President Bush's nominee to be the director of central intelligence, Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), sponsored legislation that would have cut intelligence personnel by 20 percent in the late 1990s. Goss, who has been chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for the past eight years, was one of six original co-sponsors of legislation in 1995 that called for cuts of at least 4 percent per year between 1996 and 2000 in the total number of people employed throughout the intelligence community.” (Washington Post, 8/24/2004)
· Goss Proposed Cuts Much Deeper Than Anything Kerry Did, Goss Slashed Human Intelligence. As the Washington Post reported, “But the cuts Goss supported are larger than those proposed by Kerry and specifically targeted the ‘human intelligence’ that has recently been found lacking. The recent report by the commission probing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks called for more spending on human intelligence. (Washington Post, 8/24/04)
YET BUSH PRAISED PORTER GOSS, NOMINATED HIM TO CIA
Bush Praised Goss For Reputation in House As Intelligence Reformer. “Porter Goss is a leader with strong experience in intelligence and in the fight against terrorism. He knows the CIA inside and out. He's the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history…As chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence since 1997, and as a member of the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community, he has been a leading voice on intelligence, national security and terrorism. He's been a force for positive change. His experience on Capitol Hill will serve him well at the CIA, because he's respected on both sides of the aisle and because he understands the important role Congress must play in the effort to improve our nation's intelligence capabilities. In over 15 years of service, Porter Goss has built a reputation as a reformer.” (Bush, Statement Announcing the Nomination of Porter Goss to be CIA Director, 8/10/04)
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