SLUG: Karl Rove/Howard Dean debate

 

REPORTING BY: Jon Tattum

 

PROPOSED HEADLINE: Karl Rove defends Iraq War decision during debate

 

BLURB: Rove replies heatedly to a question about the need to investigate the Bush Administration’s motivations to go to war.

 

STORY:  During his debate with Howard Dean at the Macky Auditorium, Karl Rove said Monday that many are responsible for the Iraq War.

Responding to an audience members question stating the need to "confront the sins of our past" and investigate the Bush Administrations decision to go to war in Iraq, Rove replied that many Democrats also supported the idea.

Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, quoted various Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Al Gore who all, according to Rove, once stressed the need to go to war in Iraq. 

“If we are seeking equal justice then we are going to endite everyone of these individuals," Rove said to a roar of applause.

He disagreed that the decision to go to Iraq was a mistake.

“We did the right thing based on the intelligence we had at the time,” Rove said.

Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, said the decision to go to Iraq was based on a lie.

"Iraq had relatively little capacity for weapons of mass destruction," Dean said.

He said that former Vice President Dick Cheney perpetuated the lie.

"I happen to think that it was the vice president withholding information from the president" Dean said.

As Rove read off the Democrats quotes, Dean interrupted him with a question.

"Who told them all that?" Dean asked.

Dean does not think an investigation will occur.

"You can't have one administration investigating another unless there is really clear evidence," Dean said.

Travis Lemay, a Junior at CU, said that Rove made a good point about the hypothetical invesigation.

"If George Bush made a decision on it, and technically it was based on intelligence, so did everyone else. All the Democrats said it, and if they say they didn’t know it was false, well then neither did George Bush," Lemay said.

He said that the idea that Cheney withheld information from Bush could be true.

 “I feel like that’s the only argument they could have because its not like Bush is going to lie through all that, a real lie” Lemay said.

Kurt Humphreys, a junior at CU, is more skeptical towards the two debaters.

 “I take what they say with a grain of salt,” Humphreys said.

 Before the debate, Humphreys agreed with the decision to go to Iraq.

 “I agree with going to war I don’t agree with how we meant to go to war with them”

 The debate did not change his mind on the issue but he did take the debaters views into consideration.

 “I feel like action was necessary based on what they said. They both said that there was trouble and it needed to be taken care of. The Bush administration didn’t do it in the best way,” said Humphreys.

 Word Count: 500

Visuals: Pictures from the debate

Sources: Travis Lemay, Junior at CU. Kurt Humphreys, Junior at CU.