KR Washington Bureau: In challenging war's critics, administration tinkers with truth

KR Washington Bureau | 11/16/2005 | In challenging war's critics, administration tinkers with truth: "President Bush called Democratic critics of how he sold the Iraq war to the world 'irresponsible' five times Thursday during a brief news conference in South Korea.

Bush said he agreed with Vice President Dick Cheney, who on Wednesday had accused some unnamed senators who oppose the administration's Iraq war policy of lacking 'backbone' and making 'reprehensible charges' that Bush and his aides 'purposely misled the American people on prewar intelligence.'

Cheney's rough-edged remarks, and the president's unequivocal endorsement of them, were the latest in the Bush administration's new campaign to challenge critics of how it sold the war, accusing them of twisting the historical record about how and why the war was launched. Yet in accusing Iraq-war critics of 'rewriting history,' Bush, Cheney and other senior administration officials are tinkering with the truth themselves."