Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change Call For Bush Defeat

The federal panel investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks has determined that there were no links between Al Qaeda and Iraq. George W. Bush alleged that such a link was a primary reason for invading Iraq. CNN reports:

The panel said it found "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

The report contradicts statements from the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaeda.

Bush also came under criticism today from a group calling itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change. The group, made up of former officials of the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations, held a press conference today calling for the defeat of Bush in the November election. The AP reports:

According to the group, Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, from the start of his presidency, "Bush adopted an overbearing approach to Americas role in the world, relying upon military might and righteousness, insensitive to the concerns of traditional friends and allies, and disdainful of the United Nations."

"Instead of building upon Americas great economic and moral strength to lead other nations in a coordinated campaign to address the causes of terrorism and to stifle its resources, the administration, motivated more by ideology than by reasoned analysis, struck out on its own."

The group accused the Bush administration of manipulating "uncertain evidence" about Iraq's weapons programmes to justify an "ill-planned and costly war from which exit is uncertain".

Among the signatories are William Crowe, a retired admiral who was a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under president Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), Stansfield Turner, another retired admiral and past director of the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites), and several former prominent ambassadors.

All this kind of makes you wonder who is going to be left supporting Bush in November.