Bush Admits There Is No Evidence Iraqi Insurgents Are Trying To Influence U.S. Elections

I was reading something today that a writer — I don’t remember who — was speculating on increased terrorist attacks in Iraq attempting to demoralize the American people as we get up to the election. And when I read that, it made sense to me. And I interpreted this as that the terrorists are actually involved and want to involve themselves in our electoral process, which must mean they want a change.

There’s certainly a stepped up level of violence, and we’re heading into an election. … They are trying to not only kill American troops, but they’re trying to foment sectarian violence. They [Al Qaeda] believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause government to withdraw.

[I]t is possible, although we don’t have a clear pathway into the minds of terrorists, it is possible that they are trying to use violence right now as a way of influencing the elections.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And for the first time the President acknowledged parallels to Vietnam. It came when I asked for his response to ‘New York Times” columnist Tom Friedman’s contention that we’re now seeing an Iraqi version of the Vietcong’s 1968 Tet offensive that turned American public opinion decisively against the war.

BUSH: He could be right. There’s certainly a stepped up level of violence and we’re heading into an election.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So they’re trying to influence the elections?

BUSH: It could be. I don’t know. I haven’t - I don’t have any intelligence that says that.