Republican Senators Cite Bush Incompetence
Senators from both parties urged the Bush
administration on Sunday to make a realistic assessment of the
situation in Iraq and adjust its policies aimed at pacifying the
country. But Bush readied a firm defense of his Iraq policy - and a
sharp new attack on rival John Kerry's stance - for a speech Monday.
"The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required. We
didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to
the point where we finally lost," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War
veteran who is co-chairman of President Bush's re-election committee in
Nebraska. "We can't lose this. It is too important," Hagel, R-Neb.,
said on CBS'"Face the Nation." A major problem, said leaders of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was incompetence by the
administration in reconstructing the country's shattered
infrastructure. The chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, noted that Congress
appropriated $18.4 billion a year ago this week for reconstruction. No
more than $1 billion has been spent. "This is the incompetence in the
administration," Lugar, R-Ind., said on ABC's "This Week." [more 
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