Feinstein Challenges White House on Authorship of Allawi Speech

California Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote to President George W. Bush in late September 2004, raising sharp objections to reports that White House officials and Bush campaign staff had helped draft a substantial portion of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's recent address to Congress.

Feinstein said she had taken the speech, delivered before a joint session of Congress the week prior, as an independent assessment of conditions on the ground in Iraq. The address had given her confidence that reconstruction was advancing across much of the country and that elections could proceed on schedule.

Learning that campaign operatives had shaped the remarks, she wrote, undermined its credibility. She characterized the speech as "massaged by your campaign operatives."

Feinstein's letter came in direct response to a Washington Post report published that same day, which further alleged that US officials, including Dan Senor, the former Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman, had coached Allawi on his delivery ahead of the appearance.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.