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Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry said Wednesday that the Bush administration's statements on Iraq remind him of Vietnam-era claims of imminent victory and he faulted the commander in chief for
"sidestepping the truth."
"At the rate that they're going, it reminds me of the 'light at the end of the tunnel' language during Vietnam," said Kerry, a decorated war veteran who opposed the conflict upon his return from Southeast Asia.
Government and military officials in the 1960s and early 1970s often used the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" to describe a victory in Vietnam that never came.
Kerry, who voted for the congressional resolution authorizing the Iraq war, has been critical of Bush's handling of diplomacy and postwar operations.
"If the president thinks that the reality is that we're being attacked and the bombings are taking place because we're putting on electricity and because it's just a dangerous place, I think he's really sidestepping the truth," Kerry said.
Kerry made the comments to reporters after signing copies of his new book, "A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America."