Bush lies, distorts

To the editor:

President Bush quotes statistics in the debates. It's a shame that his facts are either distortions or outright lies. In the first debate alone Bush made various false claims:

That there are 100,000 trained Iraqis maintaining the peace. The Defense Department recognizes only 8,169 trained Iraqis, and these lack equipment to do the job.

That diplomacy would not have persuaded Iraq to disarm. Bush seems not to know -- or perhaps care? -- that Iraq disarmed in the mid-1990s. Saddam couldn't disarm in 2002, because he didn't have any weapons of mass destruction left to destroy.

That most of al-Qaida's leadership has already been captured. Bush apparently is unaware that since our invasion of Iraq, terrorist recruitment has increased tenfold, and Osama wannabes abound.

In the first debate, Kerry said that if he took our nation to war he would make sure we passed the global test, meaning that under his leadership the United States would maintain its credibility by acting with unquestionable integrity. Bush has repeatedly twisted Kerry's words, on the stump and in subsequent debates, in an effort to obscure his own record of untruths and broken promises.

In the last debate, Kerry correctly accused Bush of having said that he wasn't worried about Osama bin Laden. Bush responded that this simply wasn't true. He should review the tapes from his press conference of March 13, 2002. Bush may lie, but his record doesn't.

ROBIN HANKINSON, Pocahontas, Mo.