Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) seems to have generated quite a firestorm with a hard-hitting interview last week about the White House and the war in Iraq. Good for him.
The senior senator from Massachusetts didn’t pull any punches. “There was no imminent threat,” Kennedy said. “This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud.”
More importantly, Kennedy wondered aloud about unaccounted for money being spent in Iraq. Specifically, Kennedy pointed to a report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office which said only $2.5 billion of the $4 billion being spent per month on the war can be accounted for by the Bush administration. Kennedy seems to have an idea about where the rest of the money is going.
“My belief is this money is being shuffled all around to these political leaders in all parts of the world, bribing them to send in troops,” Kennedy said.
Provocative, to be sure. As the DNC’s Kicking Ass said, “The last thing Bush wants is anyone asking hard questions about where he’s spending the money in Iraq. Which is why we should keep asking.” Indeed.
Of course, Sen. Kennedy was apparently just sharing an idea. He didn’t offer any proof to substantiate the charge, only asserting that the administration couldn’t (or wouldn’t) account for $1.5 billion a month in our money that’s being spent in Iraq.
To hear the Republicans tell it, Kennedy accused Bush of treason. The senator’s remarks have prompted intense whining from top GOP leaders. Interestingly, though, I haven’t heard any denials.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay led the attack (raise your hand if you’re surprised), daring Dem leaders and presidential candidates “to have the courage to tell their hero Ted Kennedy that he went too far.” DeLay thought Kennedy was harsh, but the former bug spray salesman did not comment on whether Kennedy’s charges about money-for-support were true. Perhaps his denial was just understood.
More importantly, President Bush was asked for a reaction to Kennedy’s controversial remarks in an exclusive Oval Office interview with Fox News Channel (again, raise your hand if…oh, never mind).
Bush responded by saying that he respected Kennedy but thought the senator was being “uncivil.”
“I don’t mind people trying to pick apart my policies, and that’s fine and that’s fair game,” Bush said. “But, you know, I don’t think we’re serving our nation well by allowing the discourse to become so uncivil that people say — use words that they shouldn’t be using.”
Uncivil? Well, maybe a little. But Bush never actually got around to denying the substance of Kennedy’s claim either.
Look, I don’t know if there’s anything to Kennedy’s charge or not. I also have no idea why the administration can’t account for $1.5 billion a month that’s being spent in Iraq. Maybe we’re trying to bribe our allies, maybe not. Maybe the fact that the U.S. announced less than two weeks ago that we have agreed to “loan” Turkey $8.5 billion, to be delivered any day now, is just a coincidence. Who am I to say?
I think I know how to end this controversy. Instead of questioning Kennedy’s patriotism, which his critics seem to do reflexively, perhaps the Republicans can prove Teddy wrong by telling us where the unaccounted for money is being spent. If there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for how the administration is spending $1.5 billion a month in Iraq, then they should be able to easily prove that Kennedy is wrong. How about it, guys?