Debaters spar on Iraq war

CLEVELAND — Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards traded blows last night over Iraq and the Democratic ticket’s Senate voting records in the first and only debate between the vice-presidential candidates.

Mr. Edwards quickly accused Mr. Cheney of “not being straight with the American people” and repeatedly hammered at the Bush administration for denying that “Iraq is a mess, and it’s getting worse.”

But unlike President Bush last week, Mr. Cheney vigorously went after the Senate voting records of Mr. Edwards and, especially, of Sen. John Kerry, accusing them of being weak on defense and of shifting their positions on the war in Iraq based on prevailing political winds.

“Your rhetoric, Senator, would be a lot more credible if there was a record to back it up. There isn’t,” he said of the senator’s claims that a Kerry-Edwards administration would be tough on terrorists.

He said the senators’ words on the campaign trail count for little when compared to their long-standing opposition to military-spending bills and the use of force, mentioning Mr. Kerry’s history of “cutting most of our major defense programs” and his opposition to the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

“You cannot use ‘talk tough’ during the course of a 90-minute debate in a presidential campaign to obscure a 30-year record in the United States Senate and prior to that, by John Kerry, who has consistently come down on the wrong side of all the major defense issues that he’s faced as a public official,” Mr. Cheney said.

As the two men met center stage at Case Western Reserve University last night and shook hands, Mr. Edwards smiled and said, “Good to see you.” But the courtliness ended there.

“Mr. Vice President, you are still not being straight with the American people,” were the first words out of Mr. Edwards’ mouth, issued after Mr. Cheney gave moderator Gwen Ifill of the Public Broadcasting System his assessment of the situation in Iraq.

Mr. Edwards said the United States was carrying too much of the financial and human cost in Iraq, adding that although Saddam Hussein “needed to be confronted, … it needed to be done the right way.”

He also accused the Bush administration of exaggerating how much allies are helping.

“Ninety percent of the coalition casualties, Mr. Vice President, the coalition casualties, are American casualties,” Mr. Edwards said. “Ninety percent of the costs of this effort are being borne by the American taxpayers.”

The sedate Mr. Cheney responded with his strongest burst of low-key indignation, saying Mr. Edwards’ comments were a “classic example” of how the Democrats have belittled the members of the 30-nation alliance that Mr. Bush formed.

“He won’t count the sacrifice and the contribution of our Iraqi allies,” Mr. Cheney said, pointing out the 90 percent figure is only true if Iraqi casualties are not taken into account, in which case the U.S. share is about 50 percent.

“It’s their country. They’re in the fight,” Mr. Cheney said of Iraq’s new government. “They’re increasingly the ones out there putting their necks on the line to take back their country from the terrorists and the old regime elements that are still left.”

Mr. Edwards said it was “not just me that sees the mess in Iraq,” pointing to critical comments by Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana.

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