Lawmaker expresses "dismay" that White House allegedly wrote Allawi speech
Thu Sep 30, 3:36 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - In a letter to the White House, a leading US Senate Democrat expressed "profound dismay" that the White House allegedly wrote a large portion of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to Congress last week.
"I want to express my profound dismay about reports that officials from your administration and your reelection campaign were 'heavily involved' in writing parts of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's speech," California Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote in a letter to President George W. Bush.
"You may be surprised by this, Mr. President, but I viewed Prime Minister Allawis speech as an independent view on conditions in Iraq ," she wrote.
"His speech gave me hope that reconstruction efforts were proceeding in most of the country and that elections could be held on schedule."
"To learn that this was not an independent view, but one that was massaged by your campaign operatives, jaundices the speech and reduces the credibility of his remarks," Feinstein wrote.
Her letter was a response to an article appearing in Thursday's Washington Post, which also alleged that Allawi was coached by US officials -- including Dan Senor, former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq-- in perfecting his delivery of the speech delivered before a joint session of Congress one week ago.
Senators Slam Republican Party for Bible Pamphlet
1 hour, 45 minutes ago
"Two weeks ago, the Republican National Committee sent a mass mailing to West Virginians suggesting that liberals -- in other words, everyone but Republicans -- are out to ban the Bible," Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, said on the Senate floor.
"What a ridiculous claim! It is a flat-out, no-doubt-about-it, silly, sophomoric charge," Byrd said. "The Republican National Committee is spreading this tripe to smear Democrats, and the president ought to demand that the Republican National Committee apologize to the people of West Virginia."
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat from Arkansas, said the same mailing was sent to Arkansans.
"I hope that there will be an apology for their claims that Democrats want to ban the Bible and the inference that Democrats for some reason cannot have a faith as close or as deeply held as the other party," Lincoln said on the Senate floor. "I find that to be the pit, the absolute bottom of what is wrong in the political process."
A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee confirmed the mailing was sent to Arkansas and West Virginia, stressing it addressed the issue of "activist judges."
"When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same sex marriage and people in other states realized they could be compelled to recognize those laws, same sex marriage became an issue. Activist judges also want to remove the words 'under God' from the pledge of allegiance," spokeswoman Christine Iverson said in an e-mail.
The e-mail noted the mailing did not mention the word "Democrats."
Without providing details about the pamphlet, the e-mail did not dispute press reports indicating the pamphlet included a graphic showing a Bible with the word "banned" across it, and a graphic of a man placing a ring on the hand of another man with the word "allowed" across it.
