Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Bush defends tax cuts against Democrats’ jabs PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS President George W. Bush outlines an immigration reform proposal in the East Room of the White House Wednesday. BY SCOTT LINDLAW THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CRAWFORD, TEXAS - President Bush took a swipe at Democratic candidates who want to roll back the tax cuts he enacted, declaring Saturday the reductions have fu eled a broad economic recovery. In his weekly radio address, Bush cited a litany of improving economic figures: rising home ownership, business investment, manufacturing and stock market wealth. He gave credit to the three tax cuts, totaling $1.7 trillion over 10 years, that he pushed through Congress. “Tax relief has got this econo my going again, and tax relief will keep it moving forward,” Bush said. “We can continue on the path to prosperity and new jobs — a path marked by a pro-growth agenda that has cut taxes on pay checks for 109 million American taxpayers — or we can reverse the course by raising taxes on hard working Americans,” Bush said. “The choice is clear. ” The president focused on tax cuts at the end of a week when the issue took center stage in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt say they would erase all of Bush’s tax cuts if elected, al though Dean hinted this week he was considering a new proposal to reduce the tax burden on the mid dle class. Another Democratic candidate, John Kerry, argues Bush’s tax cuts targeted to the wealthy should be repealed. Kerry said in a campaign ad that began airing Friday, “It’s right to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and invest in our kids.” In a response to Bush’s radio address, Kerry cited a critical new account of Bush's economic poli cies by Bush’s former Treasury “Now is not the time to turn our backs on America’s families and workers and entrepreneurs by letting much-needed tax relief expire.” GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES secretary, Paul O’Neill. In O’Neill’s version of events, related in a new book, “The Price of Loyalty,” President Bush was so disengaged during Cabinet meetings that he was like a “blind man in a roomful of deaf people.” “In his radio address President Bush had the audacity to tell the nation that his tax cuts for the wealthy ‘got this economy going again.’ It’s just more proof that President Bush’s former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was right,” Kerry said in a statement released in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was campaigning. The exchange is certain to pre view a central debate in the elec tion: whether Bush’s tax cuts helped power an economic recov ery or were simply a budget-bust ing boon for the rich. Bush said he would renew his request that Congress make all his tax cuts permanent. Some of those cuts came with built-in expiration dates. “Now is not the time to turn our backs on America’s families and workers and entrepreneurs by let ting much-needed tax relief ex pire,” Bush said. Bush’s radio address aired as he spent a long weekend on his central Texas ranch. He returned there Friday afternoon, less than a week after finishing a nine-day va cation on the ranch. •Bush flies to Monterrey, Mexico, for a summit of Western Hemisphere leaders on Monday. Israel’s peace talks with Syria ended because of terrorist links BY RAVI NESSMAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM — Israel had secret contacts with Syria several months ago — well before recent Syrian overtures—but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out, Israel’s foreign minis ter said Sunday. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was ready to open negoti ations if Syria “stops helping ter ror.” The secret meetings appeared part of an effort to restart peace talks between Israel and one of its most intractable enemies. Earlier talks broke down in 2000. Syrian President Bashar Assad called last month for a resumption of official talks, but Israel leaders are split over whether to take up his offer. Sharon said Sunday that Israel would readily restart negotiations with Syria once Syria stopped aid ing and harboring terrorist groups that continue to attack Israel. The main Palestinian militant groups, as well as the Lebanese group Hezbollah, all operate on Syrian territory. “Israel is ready and willing to negotiate once Syria, of course, stops helping terror,” he told a news conference for foreign jour nalists. Meanwhile, more than 80,000 Jewish settlers and their sup porters demonstrated against Sharon’s recent statements that Israel would unilaterally remove some settlements from the West Bank and Gaza if no peace deal with the Palestinians is reached soon. “The uprooting of settlements tears the nation,” read one protester’s sign. “Sharon, resign — we don’t want you any more,” read another. While peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and some other officials have been publicly pushing the government to accept Syria’s offer to restart talks. Shalom said Sunday that Israel had secret meetings seven or eight months ago with people “very close” to Assad. “Unfortunately, after two meet ings that the Israeli partners had with their Syrian colleagues, it leaked out. And while it was ex posed, of course the Syrians didn’t continue to negotiate through this track,” he said. Shalom said he had requested an investigation into the leaks, which he said have severely dam aged Israel’s ability to negotiate with its Arab neighbors. In Damascus, an official with the information ministry denied there had been any secret con tacts. The official, speaking on con dition of anonymity, said Syria’s policy remains linked to interna tional initiatives that call on Israel to withdraw from all occupied ter ritories and blamed Israel for the current stalemate. Mahdi Dakhlalah, editor in chief of the Al-Baath newspaper of the ruling Baath party, said Syria has repeatedly insisted it would not “do anything under the table. Rather, it puts all its papers on the table.” “There is no need (for Syria) to hold secret contacts at all,” he added. Syria and Israel were close to a peace agreement in 2000, with Israel offering to return nearly all of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured in the 1967 Mideast war. But the two sides were unable to finalize the deal. Back channel talks with other unidentified Arab countries are continuing, Shalom added. His comments followed reports that Israel had held secret meetings with Libya. “I don’t see how we can contin ue to deal or to contact or to nego tiate with our Arab neighbors while they are not sure that these contacts won’t remain in secret,” Shalom said. Peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled after 39 months of violence and both sides’ refusal to implement their obligations under the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan. Sharon said last month he would uproot some settlements and impose a boundary on the Palestinians if no peace deal is reached in the next few months. Last week he told activists from his Likud Party,that under any peace deal, some settlements would have to be moved. Thousands of settlers and their supporters gathered in Tel Aviv to protest Sharon’s remarks. Though police estimated that 120,000 people were at the rally, many appeared to be teenagers, too young to vote. “I came to voice my opposition to Sharon’s policies,” said 18-year old Matan Bahat, from the Israeli city of Holon. "I am against evac uating settlements, which would be a reward for terror.” Also Sunday, violence contin ued in the West Bank. A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in a confrontation with the Israeli army in a West Bank village. Palestinian wit nesses said soldiers fired at Palestinian stone-throwers, while the military said the teen was about to throw a firebomb when he was shot. A Palestinian man was killed when a bomb he was carrying ex ploded prematurely. The Israeli military said the bomber, identi fied by relatives as Iyad al-Masri, 19, from the West Bank city of Nablus, apparently had been en route to Israel. His brother and a cousin were killed by the Israeli army in clashes last week. Don't Take the MCAT Half Prepared ■MHHKMHM Average MCAT Score Improvement Hours The Princeton Review Average score improve ment of 10 points. The top half of Princeton Review students score an average of 30 on the MCAT. 80+ hours of personalized instruction with experts in indi vidual subject areas. Other Courses No published average score improvement. Less than 40 hours of live instruction. Quality of Materials Practice Tests 4,300 pages of practice materials reflecting the most recent trends on the MCAT. All materials are yours to keep. 5 full-length practice tests with score reports to moni tor progress; practice tests given under realistic conditions. 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