MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on Thursday rejected his rivals' criticisms that he is unversed on foreign policy and accused them of obediently following President Bush's lead on the war with Iraq.
Dean's remarks intensified the acrimony among the Democratic presidential candidates about their stances on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a debate that was reignited this week with the capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
On Thursday, the Democratic front-runner repeated his view that the capture had not made the United States safer. During a question-and-answer session with an audience, he broadened his critique to say that despite the anti-terrorism efforts of the Bush administration, the country is no safer today than it was on Sept. 10, 2001.
In the last few days, Dean's opponents have seized on his statement about Hussein, citing it as evidence of the former governor's lack of experience in foreign policy.
After several days of brushing off his rivals with a few glib asides, Dean responded with a denunciation that lumped Bush together with his Democratic opponents -- or, as he called them, the "Washington politics-as-usual club."
"I think the Democratic Party has to offer a clear alternative to the American people," Dean said in remarks hastily tacked onto the beginning of a long-planned speech on domestic policy at the Manchester City Library. "We must make it clear the capture of one very bad man does not mean that this president -- or the Washington Democrats -- can declare victory in the war on terror."
Dean's staunch defense of his position on the war came as he delivered a broad speech outlining his domestic policy agenda, which he called "a new social contract for working families." In it, the former governor embraced the role of Democrats carved out by Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying the government must "provide certain basic guarantees to those who are working hard to fulfill the promise of America."
He hit on a similar theme in his condemnation of the war, reproaching fellow Democrats in Congress who authorized the invasion and calling the party's nominating fight a contest "for the soul of the Democratic Party."
"As distressing as the president's conduct leading us into the war was the way some Democrats fell meekly in line behind the president," Dean said. "Instead of standing up for what was right, these Democrats backed away from the fight.
