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Democrats attack Bush on terrorism warRivals for party's nomination call for more-active leadership
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Democratic presidential hopefuls went on the offensive Sunday, saying the Bush administration has "not done its job" in the war on terrorism. The Democrats say the president has "let al Qaeda off the hook," and "can't find [Osama] bin Laden," and should share the blame for security failures that allowed last week's suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. Although the president has garnered high poll ratings on security issues, his Democratic rivals hope those numbers will wither away upon further scrutiny of his policies. At a meeting of union members in Des Moines, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina summed up the mood of his fellow Democrats, saying "We will not cede this issue to a party and a president whose idea of homeland security is plastic wrap and duct tape." On CBS's "Face the Nation," Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts accused the administration of sitting on its hands after learning that terrorists might strike residential compounds in Saudi Arabia. Kerry praised the U.S. intelligence community for predicting the attacks, but added, "It's insufficient for this administration to say, 'We notified them, but they didn't do anything.' It's the obligation of this administration to make sure that they are doing something. "You don't do it by passing on a communication and then sitting there," Kerry continued. "You have to be engaged. And many people are wondering whether we have been tough enough in our relationship with Saudis, with Saudi Arabia." Robert Jordan, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has said that after receiving intelligence reports about likely attacks, the United States asked the Saudis to boost security at residential compounds housing Westerners, but the Saudis never granted the request. A senior Bush administration official said Deputy National Security Adviser Steve Hadley secretly visited Saudi Arabia about 10 days before the attacks to ask Saudi officials to improve security, and named at least one of the compounds that was later struck. Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Saudi Arabia's conclusion that measures were "adequate" referred only to one particular compound, and it was correct, he said. "It is the only compound that the terrorists were not able to penetrate, and as a consequence, they blew themselves up outside the gates." After receiving Hadley's recommendation, Saudi authorities began looking into increasing security at other compounds, he added. Kerry said that if he were president, he would have taken a tougher line with Saudi Arabia, "going public" with security concerns to increase pressure on the Saudi government, and reminding the Saudis of their reliance on U.S. troops protecting the kingdom. Kerry and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut were the only two presidential hopefuls to miss a labor forum Saturday in Des Moines. Kerry was giving a commencement address while Lieberman was observing the Jewish Sabbath. Former House Speaker Richard Gephardt focused on the president's supposed failure to improve security at home. "We are vulnerable to future attacks because this administration has not done its job and has not increased our ability to have homeland security," he said. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, the former head of the Senate intelligence committee, said an unneeded focus on Iraq had given al Qaeda a chance to make a comeback. "We have let al Qaeda off the hook," Graham told the group of union members. "We had them on the ropes, close to dismantlement and then as we moved resources out of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight a war in Iraq, we let them regenerate. "And we have not gone to those nations that we know have been providing aid, assistance, and sanctuary -- such as Syria -- to tell them we will no longer tolerate that kind of activity," Graham charged. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean agreed, calling Iraq "a diversion," and saying "we are not safer today than we were before [former Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein left." Al Sharpton challenged the president to find bin Laden. "You keep going after everything but who went after us," Sharpton said. "[His] head of missing persons, he can't find bin Laden. We don't know if Hussein is living or dead, and we can't find the weapons of mass destruction." On "Face the Nation," Kerry also took issue with Bush's handling of Iraq, saying the administration failed to prepare for postwar governance. "Winning the war was never in doubt," Kerry said. "Winning the peace is more complicated. And we've seen that this administration has been in complete disarray. They did not have a plan ready. "The entire direction and course of the war on terror, the entire direction in the Middle East, will depend on our success in Iraq. We can win it, but it's going to take a longer, more sustained, more expensive effort than this administration ever acknowledged to the American people," Kerry said.
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