AP News, March 31st, 2007
Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph Biden found a ready critic for his own criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq as the senator campaigned Saturday in the hometown of Shaw Air Force Base.
The Delaware Democrat said he has been right to criticize the Bush administration for its handling of the Iraq war. He told a crowd of about 60 at the University of South Carolina-Sumter that he is the only presidential candidate with a real political solution for the war.
But when Biden turned to the audience for questions, John Stevens, 79, a disabled Air Force veteran of the U.S. conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, had his own criticism to offer.
"The war's being lost in Congress by the people who give aid and comfort to the enemies that are killing our troops," Stevens said.
Biden said the problem in Iraq isn't a lack of support at home for American troops. He said he has pushed plans to properly equip troops, in part by providing mine-resistant vehicles made in South Carolina.
U.S. soldiers have been asked to remain enmeshed in what's become a civil war that requires different tactics, Biden said.
"We went to war with too few troops," Biden said. "Not a single general disagrees with that."
Biden also addressed the Iraq war in remarks to the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance at The Sanctuary, a pricey Kiawah Island resort.
"It was a powerful speech," said Lewis Gossett, alliance chief executive.
Biden didn't talk about his plans to roll back tax breaks for the nation's wealthiest people.
"The reception might not have been as good for that," Gossett said.
