Cheney raps war critics

WASHINGTON - In the sharpest White House attack yet on critics of the Iraq war, United States Vice-President Dick Cheney said that accusations the Bush Administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war were a "dishonest and reprehensible" political ploy.

Cheney called Democrats "opportunists" who were peddling "cynical and pernicious falsehoods" to gain political advantage while US soldiers died in Iraq.

Democrats cried foul but President George W. Bush, at a news conference in Kyongju, South Korea, defended Cheney. "It's irresponsible to use politics. This is serious business, winning this war. But it's irresponsible to do what they've done. So I agree with the Vice-President."

The comments were the latest salvo in an aggressive White House counter-attack on war critics, launched as Democrats step up their criticism of the war and polls show declining public support.

Cheney repeated Bush's charge that Democratic critics were rewriting history by questioning prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction even though many Senate Democrats voted in October 2002 to authorise the invasion.

"The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone - but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history," said Cheney, a principal architect of the war and a focus of Democratic allegations that the Administration misrepresented intelligence.

Cheney said the suggestion Bush or any member of the Administration misled Americans before the war "is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city. Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favour of authorising force against Saddam Hussein."

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada responded that "tired rhetoric and political attacks do nothing to get the job done in Iraq".

Reid, who voted to authorise the war and has led the push for a probe into the intelligence, said that Cheney's speech showed "this Administration intends to 'stay the course' and continue putting their political fortunes ahead of what this country needs - a plan for success".

Former presidential nominee Senator John Kerry, who also voted for the war, accused Cheney of engaging "in the politics of fear and smear. It is hard to name a government official with less credibility on Iraq than Vice-President Cheney."

Twenty-nine Senate Democrats voted in favour of an October 2002 resolution authorising military force in Iraq.

- REUTERS