Democrat Senator Tom Harkin says President Bush is failing to win over the international community and get more help in Iraq. Harkin says the President’s speech before the United Nations this week “set the wrong tone.” Harkin says Bush told the world “we can go it ourselves” and “you’d better do what we say, or else.”Harkin says we’re not getting any pledges of help on the security side, which means longer tours of duty for American soldiers, and we’re not getting any financial help, which means American taxpayers must shoulder a heavier burden. Harkin says Bush’s U.N. speech shows the President has abandoned the “pretext” that intervention in Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction. Harkin says Bush is now touting the concept of “nation building.” Harkin says Republicans took Bill Clinton to task when he moved to establish democracies in the Balkans. Harkin says the difference is Clinton lined up international support for that operation, whereas Bush is forcing American taxpayers to foot the bill in Iraq.
