Graham close to finishing book on war on terrorism
By Associated Press
Published June 14, 2004
MIAMI - U.S. Sen. Bob Graham said Sunday he is completing a book about the nation's war on terrorism, drawing on his work on intelligence issues in the Senate. Graham said the book will be called Intelligence Matters and said the publisher and expected release date would be announced soon. The three-term senator is retiring after serving as chairman of the Intelligence Committee and the co-chair of the congressional probe into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"It covers why intelligence is particularly important to the American people today, what is the state of American intelligence using the events around Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq as a case study," Graham said.
The book will also address "some of the reforms that need to be made to bring American intelligence to a level that is required for the threat which the American people now face."
Graham spoke with reporters in a call arranged by John Kerry's presidential campaign in advance of Vice President Dick Cheney's trip today to Orlando and Panama City. Cheney is expected to address the administration's progress in the war on terrorism.
Graham said Cheney would face "tough questions" during his visit, criticizing the administration after the State Department acknowledged it was wrong in reporting that terrorism declined worldwide last year.
"I guess that is clear evidence that we are less safe today than we were in 2001 in large part because we have lost focus on the real terrorists - al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas - in order to pursue a war in Iraq," Graham said.
Bush campaign spokesman Reed Dickens countered that the administration's pursuit of terrorists has made the nation safer.
"After capturing or killing two-thirds of al-Qaida's leadership, toppling two regimes and freeing 50-million people, to say that we're not as safe as we were three years ago is a little out of touch with reality," Dickens said.
