Dean's Conflicting Iraq Comments Draw Scrutiny
As his rivals have stepped up their criticism of his stance on Iraq, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's public statements about the war are under increasing scrutiny, revealing a candidate whose off-the-cuff style has sometimes led him to take contradictory positions.
A close examination of Dean's comments during the last 15 months shows that he has consistently voiced opposition to the United States invading Iraq without the support of the United Nations and repeatedly argued that President Bush did not make the case for going to war.
But Dean, who acknowledges that his outspoken manner often gets him in trouble, has made conflicting statements about the danger posed by Saddam Hussein and the conditions under which he would support going to war.
In a Dec. 10 news conference in Concord, N.H., Dean insisted that he "never said Saddam was a danger to the United States, ever."
But in an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sept. 29, 2002, Dean said, "There's no question Saddam is a threat to the U.S. and our allies."
On the campaign trail, he frequently argues that he is the only major Democratic candidate who opposed the war.
But Dean voiced support for legislation in the fall of 2002 that, had it passed, would have ultimately given Bush authorization to invade Iraq unilaterally.
Increasingly, some of Dean's opponents are spotlighting those differing stances as they try to slow the momentum of the Democratic front-runner. This week, both Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry and Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt charged that Dean's inconsistency reflected his inexperience with foreign policy.
"Gov. Dean can do all the repositioning he wants, but the fundamental truth is that he made many contradictory statements about the war on Iraq and the aftermath," Gephardt said Tuesday.
In an interview with The Times this week, Dean acknowledged that he shouldn't have spoken in "absolutes" about whether he ever said Hussein was a threat.
"I was thinking about an imminent threat," he said.
More broadly, Dean dismissed his rivals' criticism of his statements on Iraq as "grasping at straws and silliness."
"You've just got to stand up for what you believe in, and I did," he said as he rode in a minivan to a fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Monday evening. "I was very clear that I did not support this."
