DES MOINES, Iowa, 19 May 2003 — Democrats hoping to challenge President George W. Bush in 2004 elections slammed his failure to dismantle Al-Qaeda and find its leader, Osama Bin Laden, at a union forum here.
Seven of nine Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination appeared at a town hall-style event Saturday hosted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major union whose endorsement helped little-known Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton win the party primary in 1992.
Before a friendly audience of union members from across the country the would-be candidates blasted Bush on tax cuts, judicial nominations, health care and homeland security.
After a week that began with bombings in Saudi Arabia and ended with bomb attacks in Morocco, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida said the Bush administration had blown an opportunity to destroy the Al-Qaeda network by diverting resources to the war on Iraq.
“We had them on the ropes, but we let them regenerate,” he declared.
“Where is Bin Laden?” demanded political activist Al-Sharpton. “Mr. Bush will not be, in a Sharpton administration, the head of missing persons. He can’t find Bin Laden. We don’t know if (Saddam) Hussein is living or dead, and we can’t find the weapons of mass destruction.”
Bush administration officials have repeatedly said they remain confident they will find evidence of unconventional weapons in Iraq — a key justification for the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Bush, who formally launched his 2004 re-election effort on Friday, announced in his radio address the following day that almost half of Al-Qaeda’s leadership had been captured or killed.
He called the triple terrorist attack in the Saudi capital May 12 “a stark reminder that the war on terror continues. The address was written prior to the deadly string of bombings in Casablanca, Morocco late Friday that left 41 dead.
