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White House changes tack

Julian Borger

Cheney calls a truce with opponents of war in Iraq

Washington: United States Vice-President Dick Cheney on Monday rejected as ``corrupt and shameless'' allegations that Americans were misled over the justification for the Iraq war, as the Bush administration defended itself against calls for a withdrawal.

Those calls have become bolder as the death toll has risen. On Monday, police in Baquba said two Iraqi children and two adults were killed when a U.S. patrol opened fire on their car. Critics argue that such incidents are fuelling the militancy.

Mr Cheney said calls for a quick withdrawal were built on a ``dangerous illusion'' that it would satisfy the U.S.'s jihadist enemies. But in a sign of the administration's nervousness over the national mood, he stopped short of questioning the patriotism of those demanding withdrawal.

Making a distinction

The Vice-President tried to make a distinction between its critics. He called a truce in the war of words with those who wanted a quick withdrawal, but escalated the attack on those who accuse senior officials of deliberately exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

Noting that ``a few politicians are suggesting these brave Americans were sent into battle for a deliberate falsehood'', Mr. Cheney said: ``This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety.''

At the same time, he attempted to limit the damage caused by last week's personal attacks on a senior Democrat who had called for a rapid withdrawal. John Murtha, a hawkish Congressman who stunned colleagues by calling for a troop pullout over six months, was accused by the White House of siding with the ``extreme liberal wing'' of his party and lambasted as a coward by a junior Republican politician. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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